Dual-Task Paradigm in Lower and Higher Ability PE Classes - Essay Example

When a dual task paradigm is added will the attention differ between lower and higher ability PE ES To have a better understanding of the topic it is necessary to have knowledge of dual task paradigm. Dual task paradigm is somewhat related to neuron (psychology) and memory processes. The dual task paradigm is directly related to the working ability of mind, its strength and the ability of the mind to respond and react or perform the different task simultaneously. A dual task paradigm is a procedure in experimental (neuron) psychology that requires an individual to perform two tasks simultaneously, in order to compare performance with single-task conditions. It is a very complex process that keeps on rolling whenever we do more then one task simultaneously. Actually what happens, when performance scores on one or both task are lower when a person tries to become multitasking If compared separately, these two task interface with each other, and it is assumed to be happening because both the task compete for same class of information processing in the brain. Each of the different tasks tries to attract the whole mind towards itself. In doing this processing of the mind becomes slower and it gets distracted towards different things simultaneously and becomes unable to give its whole strength to a particular task. It can be easily understood by an example. Singing a song while studying or using a mobile phone while riding can be performed as well as simultaneously. However, using mobile phone while riding a bike can deteriorate performance on at least one of these two tracks ability of human being is restricted to an extent. Human process resources are shareable and they can be classified into several classes. It has been found that the dual and back task can play a major role in ameliorating working memory and fluid intelligence. These two terms are very important when it comes to understand the psychology of a human being or when it comes to test the human processing resources. Working memory is also known as short term memory is a theoretical hypothesize within cognitive psychology that deals with the structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information. It has been noticed that frontal context, parietal cortex, anterior cingulated, and parts of the basal ganglia are the specific parts of the brain that are crucial for the functioning of the working memory. For past 20 years much has been learned on where in the brain working memory functions are carries out. We don't know much about the accomplishment of short term maintenance and goal directed manipulation of information by the brain. In one of recent surveys it has been found that one of the ten children suffers with working memory deficit. Children suffering from this problem perform badly in the academics. Their memory lags behind their age or looks. This type of symptoms can be easily seen in the students suffering from learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, and development coordination disorder. If not rectified in early stages, working memory mutilation badly impacts a child's performance throughout the scholastic carrier. The common symptoms of working memory impairment include a failure to remember instructions and inability to complete learning activities. Many theories have been proposed over the ability of the human being to perform more than one task at a time, and this ability has long been focused n the literature on human attention and memory, with the help of the studies of the volunteers. It has been found that is may be possible that a cognitive function responsible for dual task- or multi task coordination in overall task performance. The inability of this coordination to work leads to the mild Alzheimer's disease. It has not been cleared that dual task performance is affected by normal ageing, given that tasks are dependent on different parts of the cognitive system, and the toughness of the two different tasks is adjusted to equate single-task performance in groups. However this kind of ability is not present in the children suffering from mild Alzheimer disease. They show inability in performing several tasks at a time. Some studies have shown that if two tasks are performed simultaneously than there is an activation of brain areas that are not active when each task is performed on its own. On the contrary other studies tell us that dual task performance increases the activation only in those areas that were active during single task performance. The variation may be due to the different strategies used by the volunteers in the studies. The different theories help us reaching to the point that every contributor is using the same cognitive resources to perform a given task, tied up with through cognitive task analysis. As still there is still an uncertainty about the link between the brain organization and the cognitive organization. To have a proper knowledge of the relation between dual task paradigm and the attention, let us know something about attention. Attention is a phenomenon by which organism chooses a rift of the available information upon which to focus for enhanced processing (often in signal to noise ratio sense) and integration. Attention is known to have three parts which are orienting, filtering, searching. Attention can be used for single information or divided among these several information at a time. Each of the parts of attention has their own importance. Attention and consciousness are closely related although they can be distinguished on the basis concepts and empirical. Let us now talk about some of the important parts of attention. First among them is orienting. It is the way to distinguish or select among several incentive inputs is to make our sensory receptors get used to the one set of the stimuli and away from another. Second one is the oriental reflex. This type of behaviour can be easily understood by analyzing the behaviour of animals. the animals quickly adjusts its sense organs, by stabbing its ears and rotating its eyes, head to head so it can optimally pick up information about the event. These kind of physical responses are collectively referred to as the orienting reflex. Next is goal driven orienting. In addition to above two we can also orient attention to a particular sound or to a location in space to a subject in a goal driven manner, always depends on a sequence that tells us where to look or to listen. For example a loud music sound that attracts our sensory receptors. Let us talk about focal attention. When attention is confined to a particular locus in the space is called as focal or spatial attention. If it is oriented to a particular object, whether visual, a sound, smell, taste, it is called object oriented attention. Filtering is next in the cue. Attention acts as a filter, grabbing more information from the focused stimuli and neglecting the unfocused stimuli. Suppression can also leads to intentional blindness. Dividing attention is a very difficult thing to do. For example people find it difficult to listen to two audio simultaneously or can't properly see two overlapping videos. The task becomes easy if one has to attend two aspects of a single object simultaneously. But it becomes tedious to attend two aspects of two different objects. Now let us move towards the different theories proposed by the thinking tanks of the field. Different aspects of attention have led to the invention of many theories, both at neurological and psychological level. Theories that were proposed in the early times claimed that there is a structural limitation to the information processing in the brain. With the help of divided attention theory, it is clear that attention is limited to a limited resource that is needed by one of the current task, is unavailable for other. There are few models also that try to cover some of the specific aspects of the attention with the help of computational and mathematical framework. Through the episodic theory approach, general transition function of time are assumed for attention movement and nest and offset at particular locations. These types of functions are referring to an attention spotlight that is composed of variety of function such as extent and intensity. Recently a model has been proposed which deals with control models of attention movement. In this model it is expressed as neural network and that is neuropsychological realistic. There are other theories also with is related to the attention oscillations and entertainment of attention focus to rhythmic events. Although not a single theory among all has gained a universal acceptance, as it is already told in the previous page about the relation between attention and unconsciousness. Let us now go through the relation. Both are interrelated to each other as they are integrative yet selective. The intentional blindness gives us the clue that items not in attention are not consciously perceived. Both the concepts are differentiable. Attention is known as a boosting of signals-to-noise ratio with the help of inhabitation of processing of unattended stimuli and through enhanced processing of attended stimuli. Consciousness itself is a phenomenal experience, and related to the experience of wholeness, the strength to address its contents verbally or in other ways, and the feeling of being consciousness. There are several model proposed to have an eye on the relation between attention and consciousness. There are other theories also present in which memories are either attended or unattended. Lamme's model assumes that all re-entrant neural processing gives rise to conscious experience but only experience selected by attention is reportable. On the contrary Koch and Tsuchiya provided evidence for the complex dissociation between the two for attention, both with and without consciousness and consciousness both with and without attention. So attention and consciousness are separate process in the brain but are interrelated. So far we have discussed about the basics of dual task paradigm, working memory processes, attention and its different aspects, relationship between attention and consciousness. Now we will talk about ways to manipulate attention. Let us start with the different psychological tools to manipulate top down attention. As told earlier top down attention and consciousness complement each other. To differentiate between these two, special tools known as experimental tools that manipulate either one separately in a given manner with few side effects are used. Mainly there exist at least two types of selective attention that are stimulus driven, bottom-up, saliency -mediated attention, task-and goal-dependent top down attention. Other attentions such as text or abstract images are either linked with rewards or punishments some of the biological stimuli are always hatred such as reptiles or some are liked such as a picture of a much known celebrity. There are many techniques related to manipulate the component of attentions have been invented. It is always difficult to compare them, as each method has its own level of processing. In cueing if we see any object or a target them soon after many thoughts starts coming in our mind which may be called as informative and non informative cue. We can cal attention effect in terms of reaction time and/or accuracy of the target detection. In visual search there are too many things around the subject and the subject have to search its target among different things around him visually. Visual search is the common task of looking for something in a cluttered visual environment. The item that object is searching is referred to as target while non target items are called distracters. Dual task paradigm manipulates top-down, focal attention without bottom-up saliency. What happens when an object which is a salient object is placed in the centre of the gaze, and there is one more stimuli placed somewhere around. Then the subject will either pick the central, peripheral, or both task simultaneously while the scene and its layout remains the same. Qualification of dual task paradigm is a big deal. The inference of attention requirements from dual task performance demands caution. It requires a lot of practice. Let us move towards neuron logical disorders of attention and other attention related visual illusions. At last there is a class of neurological conditions as well as visual illusions in normal subjects where we are not able to see the stimuli because of weakening in the mechanism of top-down or bottom-up attention. Hemineglet, additional blink, intentional blindness, and change blindness are few evidences of unconsciousness. However some elements of the visual input need attention amplification to rise to the level of consciousness, other forms such as the general idea of the scene and feelings behind the scene are quite resistant to such attention manipulations. Let us discuss something about the problems related to the person suffering with Hemineglet. It is a common and disabling condition following brain damage in which patients fail to be aware of items to one side of space. Such persons with their right side brain damage often fail to be aware of objects to their left, demonstrating neglect of leftward items. It may be possible that one suffering from Hemineglet is not able to see even large objects towards their neglected side. The history of study of attention is very interesting. Formally introspection was a very popular method to study attention. However in early 1858 Farnciscus Donders introduced mental Chemistry to study intention and was recommended by some other famous names also. Nobody was sure about the possibility of split attention. This dissimilarity in the thoughts can only be resolved through experimentation. In 1950's research psychologists changed there area of interest towards cognitive revolution, different experiments were performed to clarify doubts. In1960's Robber Wurtz came forward with his feature integration theory and began recording electrical signals from the brains of macaques that were trained to perform attention task. For the first time it was noticed that there was a direct neural correlate of mental process. In late 90's, thinking tanks began using PET and FMRI to image the brain in attentive tasks. Because of the increasing budget they took help of neurologists. With the development of these technology initiations neuroscientists gained interest in this type of research, even though the older techniques of EEG had long been to study the brain activity focusing selective attention by cognitive psychologists. The newer technologies helped fetching interests of the wider communities of researchers. Attention remains the major area of investigation with education, psychology and neuroscience. Many of the things remain unclarified. No such universally expected definition of attention has been made. Most scientists think that attention can be split, but no strong poof is there. Areas of active investigation involve determining the source of signals that generate attention, and the relationship between attention and other cognitive processes like working memory. Now let us talk something about education and the effect of dual task paradigm in enhancing the abilities of students. According to a famous philosopher, Education can be seen as a product or a process and considered in a broad sense or a technical sense. in its broad sense, education can be taken as any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or the physical ability of an individual, if we talk about its technical aspect education is the process by which society, through, schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions, deliberately transmits its cultural heritage-its accumulated knowledge, values and skills-from one generation to other. Education is usually related to the technical sense and is generally confined to the perspective of teacher instructing students. There are persons in specialized performance who work as teachers of different fields. Education is a broad concept, referring to all the experiences in which student can learn something. System of formal education includes instruction, teaching and training. For convenience education is divided into different levels such as primary, secondary and higher studies. It is further subdivided into various types of studies. Primary education consists first few years or formal, structured education. Secondary education consists of. In secondary education students learn the concepts in details yet it is a kind of formal education. Higher education is the third and non compulsory education that follows the completion of school providing a secondary education. it includes undergraduate, postgraduate education as well as vocational education and training Personal education is a component of state school curriculum. It is mainly popular in Wales and Scotland. it has become compulsory in school since September 2003.it is compulsory for all students at initial stages 1,2,3 and 4 ageing 5 to 16years.this type of education includes local and global communities, sex education, spiritualities, morals environmental issues. It is a difficult task for the teachers to teach because it has not had the status of the examinable subject. It includes statuary elements and health and personal growth. Teachers guide students to enhance their speaking and learning abilities. Teachers help students in sharpening their skills and reflexes that helps them in becoming multitasking. The main concept behind this is to help student do more than one task simultaneously because it is going to help them a lot in increasing their consciousness. The intelligence creativity, cognitive style, motivation, and capacity to process information are some of the qualities or characteristics that differ from person to person. Each person has own mental level and challenges that he faces. The most common diseases or disabilities we can say, among school age children are attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and dyslexia and speech disorder. The disabilities that are not often seen are mantel retardation, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness. standardized instruments such as Stanford and IQ test and wish are widely used to check whether the child is in need of individualized educational treatment or not. Children suffering with one of the deficit may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such as phonological awareness. Children classified as gifted are often provided with accelerated or enriched programs. So far we have studied much about the significance perspective and different other prospective of dual task paradigm and attention. if awe talk about any relation between dual task paradigm or impact of dual task paradigm on lower or higher education PE studies then one thing is clear that if dual task paradigm is added the attention of students of lower and higher ability will surely differ. We have already seen earlier that dual task paradigm and attention are interrelated. If more than one task is done simultaneously, than dividing attention between two sources will be very difficult consciousness is the major problem with the students. They never pay attention to anything. They are not at all conscious about what is going around. These are some of the problem in students that should be rectified as early as possible. The interference of attention requirements requires caution. To do such tasks it requires a lot practice. To increase the ability of caution and attention there are many tools and methods available such yoga, meditation and there are different task which requires dual task paradigm. It may prove beneficial in rectifying the diseases occurring in the brain due to lack of consciousness. Researches show that the use of dual and back task improves working memory ad fluid intelligence. If the idea of dual task paradigm is used than it is definitely going to help students in strengthening their brain. With the increased attention they will be able to perform better in their academic carrier. Finally on the concluded part one thing is pretty much clear that if dual task paradigm is added than attention will surely differ between lower and higher ability personal education. Reference: 1. Sala, Sergio Della. & Logie, Robert H. (2001). Theoretical and practical implications of dual-task performance in Alzheimer's disease. Brain. Vol. 124. No. 8. Pages1479-1481. 6 April, 2009. 2. Orangi, Hanieh. Working Memory. SDSU Department of Educational Technology. 6 April 2009. 3. Waters, Helen. & Green, Michael W. (2003). A demonstration of attentional bias, using a novel dual task paradigm, towards clinically salient material in recovering alcohol abuse patients. Psychological Medicine. Pages 491-498. 6 April 2009. 4. White N., Green A. & Steiner R. (2002). An Investigation of Differences Between 3 Age-Groups in Verbal and Spatial Task-Performance Using the Dual-Task Paradigm. 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