Selective attention skills of experienced sonar operators

This study investigated the influence of sonar training and experience on the selective attention of experienced and inexperienced operators. The Stroop task was selected as a measure of general selective attention, similar in certain task requirements (attentional allocation) to sonar operation. Across two samples (ns = 32 and 36) and four repeated test sessions groups did not differ significantly in speed or accuracy of Stroop performance. The data suggest that experienced operators do not seem to have developed extraordinary attentional skills and that any attentional skills developed through sonar experience do not generalize to other tasks such as the Stroop.