Can pilots time-share better than non-pilots?

Time-sharing performance of a group of pilots was compared with that of a group of college students. In a secondary task paradigm, both groups were required to perform five dual tasks with various degrees of structural similarity. A higher degree of task interference was observed for the structurally more similar task pairs. The data were consistent with the results from previous research and support the concept of multiple resources. Although the pilots appeared to be more efficient in one of the dual task conditions, evidence for a general difference in time-sharing ability between the students and the pilots was not compelling. It was concluded that the degree to which time-sharing performance is structure dependent is not easily alterable by training. The results suggested that laboratory findings on the structural determinants of time-sharing efficiency are generalisable to operational environments.