Abstract
When multitasking in a demanding environment, operators strategically switch between tasks. Two influences on this multi-task management behaviour are the perceived rewards gained from performing a task, and the perceived effort a task requires in order to be completed. Proportionally, reward over effort is ‘rate of return’, expressing that either reward or effort changing over time spent performing a task, may influence multitasking behaviour. In the current experiment, two of four tasks within a multitasking paradigm provided constant or diminishing reward and required either constant or increasing effort in their performance. For on-going tasks, decreasing reward and increasing effort required both increased the probability of a task switch. The theory contributed here supports the study of multi-task management, and task switching model development. We discuss each in the context of safety-critical applications.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 196-214 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 4 2019 |
Keywords
- Decision-making
- multi-tasking
- reward
- task management
- task switching
- time on task
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Human Factors and Ergonomics