Dual-task interference and visual encoding

A visual target (T-2) containing either 1 or 2 letters, or a random IO-sided, polygon, was presented after an auditory target (T-1) at a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of either 50, 150, 250, or 600 ms. Task(1) was a speeded pitch discrimination to the tone, and across experiments, T-1 was either 1 of 2 tones (2-alternative discrimination [2AD]) or 1 of 4 tones (4-alternative discrimination [4AD]). Memory for the visual information decreased as SOA was reduced when a mask was used, hut not when there was no mask. The effects of SOA were larger for the 4AD Task(1) than the 2AD Task(1). The results demonstrate cross-modal, dual-task interference on visual encoding and suggest central interference with the short-term consolidation of visual information in short-term memory.