The Influence of S-C-R Compatibility and Resource Competition on Performance of Threat Evaluation and Fault Diagnosis

Abstract

Stimulus/central processing/response compatibility defines the optimum assignment of tasks to input modalities (auditory, A and visual, V) and output modalities (manual, M and speech, S). Spatial tasks are S-C-R compatible with visual/manual assignments. Verbal tasks are compatible with auditory/speech assignments. Ten subjects time-shared a spatial task of aerial threat evaluation with a verbal task of fault diagnosis. All four i/o modality combinations of the threat task were performed while the fault task was performed with A/M and V/M assignments. The joint effects of compatibility, and competition between tasks for input and output modalities were demonstrated. When resource competition was held constant, the effects of compatibility were found to be enhanced in dual task conditions. When both influences varied they were demonstrated to counteract in certain conditions and balance each other's effect.