Do multielement visual tracking and visual search draw continuously on the same visual attention resources?

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2005 Aug;31(4):643-67. doi: 10.1037/0096-1523.31.4.643a.

Abstract

Multielement visual tracking and visual search are 2 tasks that are held to require visual-spatial attention. The authors used the attentional operating characteristic (AOC) method to determine whether both tasks draw continuously on the same attentional resource (i.e., whether the 2 tasks are mutually exclusive). The authors found that observers can search and track within the same trial significantly better than would be predicted if the 2 tasks were mutually exclusive. In fact, the AOC for tracking and search is similar to that for tracking and auditory monitoring. The results of additional experiments support an attention-switching account for this high level of dual-task performance in which a single attentional resource is efficiently switched between the tracking and search. The results provide important constraints for architectures of visual selective attention and the mechanisms of multielement tracking.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Attention*
  • Cognition
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Visual Perception*