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Science 14 July 1967:
Vol. 157. no. 3785, pp. 218 - 219
DOI: 10.1126/science.157.3785.218
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Articles

Perceptual Deficit during a Mental Task

Daniel Kahneman 1, Jackson Beatty 2, and Irwin Pollack 3

1 Center for Cognitive Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2 Human Performance Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3 Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan

Subjects monitored for a visual signal while engaged in a demanding mental task. The probability of detecting the signal depends on the time of its presentation during the 8 seconds of the task. A similar time course is observed for failures to detect and for changes of pupil size. Momentary variations in the load that the task imposes on the subject are reflected in both indices. Detection failures are not explained by the pupillary changes.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Pupillometric signs of brain activation vary with level of cognitive processing.
J Beatty and B. Wagoner (1978)
Science 199, 1216-1218
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