Cognitive interference from background television: Structural effects on verbal and spatial processing

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that television‐as‐background can interfere with performance on several types of difficult cognitive processing tasks. Armstrong and Greenberg (1990) argue that these effects are most likely the result of competition between TV and a primary task for central processing resources (capacity interference). An alternative hypothesis is that observed effects result from competition for more specific types of processing resources, rather than general capacity limits. It was hypothesized that background television would produce structural interference specifically with semantic memory and visuo‐spatial processing tasks. Controlling for prior abilities as assessed by pretests using parallel test forms, background television had a significant deleterious effect on a geometric analogies and completions task involving visuo‐spatial processing, while performance on a parallel verbal analogies test was marginally improved. Concurrent TV exposure had no influence on a test of semantic memory access. Specific structural effects on particular processing components cannot be ruled out as a source of background television impacts on concurrent cognitive processing.