Visual-manual response selection produces dual-task interference in auditory-verbal memory encoding

Hensen, Sandra; Koch, Iring; Hirsch, Patricia · 2026 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1007/s00426-026-02273-x

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Summary

This study investigates how visual-manual response selection interferes with the encoding of auditory-verbal information into long-term memory. While dual-task interference during memory encoding is well-documented, the specific cognitive mechanisms—particularly the role of response selection conflicts and temporal overlap—remain unclear. The authors aimed to determine if processing conflicts in a visual-manual task (specifically a spatial Stroop task) degrade memory performance for simultaneously presented auditory words, and how the timing of these tasks influences this interference. The researchers employed a Psychological Refractory Period (PRP)-like paradigm with 72 participants. Participants performed two tasks: a spatial Stroop task (Task 1), requiring manual classification of location words based on their spatial meaning, and an auditory-verbal free recall task (Task 2), involving the encoding of spoken words for later retrieval. Conditions included single-task performance for both tasks and dual-task conditions where the Stroop stimulus preceded the auditory word by either a short stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) of 300 ms or a long SOA of 700 ms. After encoding a list of words, participants performed a distractor activity before verbally recalling the items. The design allowed for the analysis of global dual-task costs, the effects of temporal overlap (SOA), and the impact of trial-level processing conflicts (congruent vs. incongruent Stroop trials) on memory accuracy. The results demonstrated significant dual-task interference in both tasks. For the memory task, recall accuracy was lower in dual-task conditions compared to single-task conditions. Within dual-task trials, recall performance was worse with the short SOA (22.7%) than the long SOA (27.5%), indicating that greater temporal overlap between tasks impairs encoding. Crucially, memory performance was significantly worse for items encoded during incongruent Stroop trials (23.8%) compared to congruent trials (26.3%), showing that response selection conflicts directly degrade memory encoding. For the Stroop task, reaction times and error rates increased in dual-task conditions and were higher for incongruent trials. Reaction times were also longer with the short SOA compared to the long SOA, confirming mutual interference. These findings indicate that visual-manual response selection and auditory-verbal memory encoding share limited cognitive capacity, likely at the central stage of response selection. The study suggests that the cognitive load required to resolve processing conflicts in a motor task diverts resources away from memory consolidation, leading to information loss. The results support models of dual-task interference involving capacity sharing and highlight that even brief, conflict-driven decision-making processes can significantly impair the encoding of verbal information into long-term memory.

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Topics

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• dual task performance
• dual task multitasking