On separability of and interference between tracking dimensions in dual-axis tracking.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human Factors Engineering
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Time-shared tasks can be either separable or integral, influencing their interaction.
• Dual-axis tracking presents a relevant case for examining task separability and interference.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interference between dual-axis tracking dimensions.
• To determine if adding a second tracking axis negatively impacts performance on tracking or concurrent tasks.
• To explore the role of task integrality in the absence of performance decrements.

Main Methods:

• Practiced subjects performed single-axis and dual-axis tracking tasks under various conditions (feedback, resource allocation).
• A concurrent digit classification task was introduced to assess time-sharing effects.
• Further experiments paired position tracking with similar or dissimilar tasks under divided and focused attention.

Main Results:

• Small performance deficits were observed when tracking and digit classification were performed concurrently.
• Tracking conditions did not significantly affect performance on either tracking or digit classification.
• No interference was found in position tracking, even with dissimilar tasks on the second axis.

Conclusions:

• The introduction of a second tracking axis does not appear to harm tracking performance or other time-shared tasks.
• Evidence does not support the integrality of homogeneous task pairs in dual-axis tracking.
• Task separability, rather than integrality, may explain the lack of interference in dual-axis tracking.