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MULTITASKING: performing two or more tasks during the same period of time

Multi tasking leads to divided attention

DIVIDED ATTENITON: ability to respond, simultaneously to multiple tasks or demand.

We practice divided attention everyday.

The ability to effectively divide your attention Is impacted by

Practice

Task difficulty

Task similarity

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Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

An experiment to demonstrate the impact of practice

Method

Participants were shown a target stimulus

This was followed by test frames shown rapidly

The participant had to

1. Remember the target stimulus

2. Attend to the  distractor stimulus while comparing to the   target stimulus.

Each participant was presented a series of 20 test  frames

Aim for the participant

Determine whether the target from the memory set was present in a test frame

Results

| Trials | Pps correct in %
| 300 | 55%
| 900 | 90%

Automaticity achieved at 600 trials for many participants.

However,

Mundane realism.

Depend on the task itself

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What factors influence divided attention?

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What factors influence divided attention?

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Task Difficulty:

-  Schneider and Shiffrin (1977) later investigated influence of task difficulty

- Both target and distractor were made to be letters to make the task more difficult.

- Recognised a lack of automaticity shown in previous experiments into practice.

Task Similarity:

- McCleod (1977) investigated task similarity - or modality.

- Given task of following the contour of a line on computer screen.

- Simultaneously had to identify tones verbally, or through pointing at labels.

- Participants scored lower in the contour task when having to point

- Harder to do more similar tasks.

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What are the findings regarding driving while using a mobile phone?

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What are the findings regarding driving while using a mobile phone?

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Talking and texting

STRAYER AND JOHNSTONE (2001)

PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED TO PRESS BRAKED IN RESPONSE TO A RED LIGHT

RESULTS SHOWED THAT THOSE USING A MOBILE PHONE WERE SLOWER TO RESPOND AND MISSED MORE RED LIGHTS

THIS WAS REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PHONE WAS HANDS-FREE OR NOT

SO, IT’S NOT DRIVING WITH ONE HAND – IT IS THAT USING A PHONE USES COGNITIVE RESOURCES THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE USED FOR DRIVING.

CAIRD ET AL. (2014)

IN FOLLOW-UP WORK THEY CONDUCTED A META-ANALYSIS OF STUDIES ON TEXTING AND DRIVING

TYPING AND READING TEXT MESSAGES ADVERSELY AFFECTED EYE MOVEMENTS STIMULUS DETECTION, REACTION TIME, COLLISIONS, LANE POSITIONING, SPEED AND HEADWAY.

SMALLER DECREMENTS FOR READING ALONE COMPARED TO TYPING AND TYPING AND READING.

Hand-held vs hands-free

Törnros and Bolling (2005) found that "Since the speed reduction can be interpreted as an attempt to compensate for the increased workload caused by the phone conversation, conversation via a handheld phone seems to trigger a larger compensatory effect than a handsfree phone."

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Conversations with a person in the vehicle

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Conversations with a person in the vehicle

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Drews, Pasupathi & Strayer (2008)

A conversation with someone who is present is different than talking on the phone:

Surrounding traffic becomes a topic of conversation, driver and a passenger show situational awareness.

The driving conditions have a direct influence on the complexity of the conversation, reducing the potential negative effects of a conversation on driving.

A passenger who is too “supportive” by constantly commenting and directing attention in an “over-controlling" fashion has a potentially negative impact on performance.