Localizing Modality Compatibility Effects: Evidence From Dual-Task Interference

Performance is typically superior with modality-compatible stimulus-response sets (e.g., responding vocally to auditory stimuli and manually to visual stimuli) than with modality-incompatible sets (e.g., responding vocally to visual stimuli and manually to auditory stimuli). Here we studied the information-processing stage at which these modality compatibility effects arise. In three experiments using a dual-task setup, we demonstrated that these compatibility effects arose (at least partly) prior to a capacity-limited central stage that is commonly believed to be the origin of dual-task costs. We suggest that demands to employ a specific effector system bias perceptual processing toward effector-compatible stimulus modalities.