scholarly journals Is Multitasking Just a Form of Difficulty?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary L Howard ◽  
Nathan J. Evans ◽  
Reilly James Innes ◽  
Scott Brown ◽  
Ami Eidels
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Cognitive Modelling ◽  
Central Tendency ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Multiple Tasks ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Response Task

With the advancement of technologies like in-car navigation and smartphones, concerns around how cognitive functioning is influenced by ``workload'' are increasingly prevalent. Research shows that spreading effort across multiple tasks can impair cognitive abilities through an overuse of resources, and that similar overload effects arise in difficult single-task paradigms. We developed a novel lab-based extension of the Detection Response Task, which measures workload, and paired it with a Multiple Object Tracking Task to manipulate cognitive load. Load was manipulated either by changing within-task difficulty or by the addition of an extra task. Using quantitative cognitive modelling we showed that these manipulations cause similar cognitive impairments through diminished processing rates, but that the introduction of a second task tends to invoke more cautious response strategies that do not occur when only difficulty changes. We conclude that more prudence should be exercised when directly comparing multitasking and difficulty-based workload impairments, particularly when relying on measures of central tendency.

Utilizing a Remote LED Stimulus to Concurrently Measure Cognitive and Visual Task Demand

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Conner J. Motzkus ◽  
Douglas J. Getty ◽  
Andrea Campos ◽  
Joel M. Cooper ◽  
David L. Strayer
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Task Demand ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Iso Standard ◽  
Hit Rate ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Sensitive Method

The ISO 17488 standard Detection Response Task (DRT) has been validated as an effective tool for measuring fluctuations in cognitive workload while driving and performing secondary tasks. This research evaluated the possibility of consolidating a dual stimulus DRT to a single remote LED stimulus to concurrently measure visual and cognitive demand. Hit rate and reaction times to a remote LED stimulus and an ISO standard vibrotactor stimulus were compared for three in-vehicles tasks: a single task baseline, a cognitively demanding task, and a visually demanding task. Analyses showed that the remote LED and vibrotactor were equally sensitive to cognitive load, while the remote LED was more sensitive to visual load. We suggest the remote LED DRT system serves as a cost-effective, practical, sensitive method to concurrently assess cognitive and visual demand.

The Effects of Practice on Navigation Performance and Mental Workload with a Mirror-In-The-Sky Map

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1546-1550
Author(s):  
Holland M. Vasquez ◽  
Justin G. Hollands ◽  
Greg A. Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Mental Workload ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Practice Performance ◽  
Global Ratings ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Nasa Tlx ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Completion Times

Some previous research using a new augmented reality map display called Mirror-in-the-Sky (MitS) showed that performance was worse and mental workload (MWL) greater with MitS relative to a track-up map for navigation and wayfinding tasks. The purpose of the current study was to determine—for both MitS and track-up map—how much performance improves and MWL decreases with practice in a simple navigation task. We conducted a three-session experiment in which twenty participants completed a route following task in a virtual environment. Task completion times and collisions decreased, subjective MWL decreased, and secondary task performance improved with practice. The NASA-TLX Global ratings and Detection Response Task Hit Rates showed a larger decrease in MWL with MitS than the track-up map. Additionally, means for performance and workload measures showed that differences between the MitS and track-up map decreased in the first session. In later sessions the differences between the MitS and track-up map were negligible. As such, with practice performance and MWL may be comparable to a traditional track-up map.

Individual Differences and Detection Response Task Reaction Times

2018 ◽  
pp. 253-254
Author(s):  
Antonia S. Conti ◽  
Moritz Späth ◽  
Klaus Bengler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Response Task

scholarly journals Symmetrical social relation as a factor in conservation tasks

Psihologija ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenija Krstic ◽  
Aleksandar Baucal
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Social Relation ◽  
Social Factor ◽  
Power Relation ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
Concrete Operational ◽  
Material Length

According to Siegal?s hypothesis, despite having concrete operational abilities some children are not successful in conservation tasks. Social factors, such as repetition of question asked by an adult experimenter alter the manifestation of existing cognitive abilities. This study varied the following aspects of conservation tasks: symmetrical vs. asymmetrical power relation. The children in the study were asked to solve three different conservation tasks (quantity of continued material, length, and number). Each task was repeated twice; once with an adult experimenter and once with a child experimenter. Results show that children?s responses were affected by social factors only in a certain tasks. In other tasks children?s responses remained unaffected in both situations. This suggests that there exists an interaction between the experimenter and the task, and that the affect of social factor is mediated by a particular characteristic of the task. Results indicate that the modifying factor is the task difficulty.

The Effects of Cognitive and Visual Workload on Peripheral Detection in the Detection Response Task

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 855-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim van Winsum
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Stimulus Eccentricity

Objective: The independent effects of cognitive and visual load on visual Detection Response Task (vDRT) reaction times were studied in a driving simulator by performing a backwards counting task and a simple driving task that required continuous focused visual attention to the forward view of the road. The study aimed to unravel the attentional processes underlying the Detection Response Task effects. Background: The claim of previous studies that performance degradation on the vDRT is due to a general interference instead of visual tunneling was challenged in this experiment. Method: vDRT stimulus eccentricity and stimulus conspicuity were applied as within-subject factors. Results: Increased cognitive load and visual load both resulted in increased response times (RTs) on the vDRT. Cognitive load increased RT but revealed no task by stimulus eccentricity interaction. However, effects of visual load on RT showed a strong task by stimulus eccentricity interaction under conditions of low stimulus conspicuity. Also, more experienced drivers performed better on the vDRT while driving. Conclusion: This was seen as evidence for a differential effect of cognitive and visual workload. The results supported the tunnel vision model for visual workload, where the sensitivity of the peripheral visual field reduced as a function of visual load. However, the results supported the general interference model for cognitive workload. Application: This has implications for the diagnosticity of the vDRT: The pattern of results differentiated between visual task load and cognitive task load. It also has implications for theory development and workload measurement for different types of tasks.

scholarly journals Evolutionary trade-offs and the structure of polymorphisms

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1747) ◽  
pp. 20170105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hila Sheftel ◽  
Pablo Szekely ◽  
Avi Mayo ◽  
Guy Sella ◽  
Uri Alon
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Pareto Front ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Simple Geometry ◽  
Multiple Tasks

Populations of organisms show genetic differences called polymorphisms. Understanding the effects of polymorphisms is important for biology and medicine. Here, we ask which polymorphisms occur at high frequency when organisms evolve under trade-offs between multiple tasks. Multiple tasks present a problem, because it is not possible to be optimal at all tasks simultaneously and hence compromises are necessary. Recent work indicates that trade-offs lead to a simple geometry of phenotypes in the space of traits: phenotypes fall on the Pareto front, which is shaped as a polytope: a line, triangle, tetrahedron etc. The vertices of these polytopes are the optimal phenotypes for a single task. Up to now, work on this Pareto approach has not considered its genetic underpinnings. Here, we address this by asking how the polymorphism structure of a population is affected by evolution under trade-offs. We simulate a multi-task selection scenario, in which the population evolves to the Pareto front: the line segment between two archetypes or the triangle between three archetypes. We find that polymorphisms that become prevalent in the population have pleiotropic phenotypic effects that align with the Pareto front. Similarly, epistatic effects between prevalent polymorphisms are parallel to the front. Alignment with the front occurs also for asexual mating. Alignment is reduced when drift or linkage is strong, and is replaced by a more complex structure in which many perpendicular allele effects cancel out. Aligned polymorphism structure allows mating to produce offspring that stand a good chance of being optimal multi-taskers in at least one of the locales available to the species. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Self-organization in cell biology’.

Difficulty matters: Unspecific attentional demands as a major determinant of performance highlighted by clinical studies

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 680-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Bonato ◽  
Marco Zorzi ◽  
Carlo Umiltà
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Major Determinant ◽  
Dual Tasks ◽  
Attentional Demands

AbstractThe cognitive impairments shown by brain-damaged patients emphasize the role of task difficulty as a major determinant for performance. We discuss the proposal of Kurzban et al. in light of our findings on right-hemisphere–damaged patients, who show increasing awareness deficits for the contralesional hemispace when engaged with resource-consuming dual tasks. This phenomenon is readily explained by the assumption of unspecific depletable resources.

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