Auditory inspection time, sustained attention, and the fundamentality of mental speed

Abstract

This study investigates two interelated issues: (i) the view that mental speed is a fundamental property of the nervous system by assessing the relationship between inspection time (IT) tasks from two sensory modalities, and (ii) the feasibility of conceptualizing the well-known IT-ability relationship in terms of both IT and ability tasks requiring sustained attention. Subjects ( N = 78) undertook a pitch discrimination ability (PDA) task and constant and variable foreperiod (FP) IT tasks representing both auditory (AIT) and visual (VIT) modalities. AIT had little relationship to VIT but a close relationship to PDA, suggesting that the AIT procedure principally measures specific auditory abilities. Also, attentional load was found not to affect the IT-ability relationship, suggesting that sustained attention may not moderate the IT-ability relationship. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of the attentional findings and problems with the currently used AIT task.