Citation

Brill JC, Mouloua M, Gilson RD, Rinalducci EJ, Kennedy RS. Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet. 2008; 52(18): 1219-1223.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/154193120805201814

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to use a newly-developed measure of reserve attentional capacity to evaluate unitary versus multiple resource theories of attention. Participants performed a primary visual monitoring task and were presented with visual, auditory, and tactile secondary loading tasks. The data indicate that participants maintained performance on the primary task, as instructed, and performed the secondary task with any remaining attentional reserve capacity. A significant difference was found on the basis of secondary task modality, wherein performance on the visual secondary task was significantly worse than that of secondary auditory and tactile tasks. This result was additionally supported by scores on a subjective workload questionnaire. Although the data do not preclude interpretation in terms of a unitary resource model, data trends offer potential support for a multiple resource model.

Language: en