Abstract: This study was designed to examine the cognitive load changes required to process melodic contour identification task (CIT) given in a simulated real-world auditory environment. The task was originally developed to assess the different types of attention deficits following traumatic brain injury (Jeong & Lesiuk, 2011; Jeong, 2013). Here, we updated and developed a computerized version, to measure reaction time and performance accuracy. Healthy college students (N = 17) participated and were presented with melodic CIT given in various auditory contexts. Both behavioral responses (reaction time and accuracy), hemodynamic changes were also recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). A major finding was that melodic contours were relatively well identified without a high cognitive load, but the identification of the two concurrent target contours was worse off (i.e., alternating and dividing direction identification task: CIT5). A fNIRS analysis showed an abrupt increase in the oxygenated hemoglobin (oxyHb) at CIT4 (alternating direction identification task; p < .05). These findings suggested that a particular melodic contour identification task (i.e., CIT4) could differently measure the cognitive loads for young healthy adults. The potential use of musical characteristics that can dictate the levels of task complexity in CITs was further discussed. |
