In many tasks such as train driving, the operator must divide his attention between viewing a dynamic environment and viewing instruments on a control panel. Such a situation was simulated and eye movements were recorded in two conditions, (I) when all displays were continuously visible, and (II) when instruments could only be viewed on demand by means of an observing response. Eye movement patterns were far more constrained in the second condition, and there were marked individual differences. In Condition I, attention was more homogeneously distributed. The results are thought to be relevant to the design of CRT-based displays.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BroadbentD. E.Perception and Communication. London: Pergamon, 1958.
2.
BroadbentD. E.Decision and Stress. London: Academic Press, 1971.
3.
CarbonellJ. AQueueing model of many-instrument sampling. IEEE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, 1966, HFE-7. 157–164.
4.
DeutschJ. A.DeutschD.Attention: Some theoretical considerations. Psychological Review, 1963, 70, 80–90.
5.
GaiE. G.CurryR. E.A model of human observer in failure detection tasks. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man. and Cybernetics, 1976, SMC-6, 85–95.
6.
KvalsethT. O.Human information processing in visual sampling. Ergonomics, 1978, 21, 439–454.
7.
KvalsethT. O.A decision theoretic model of sampling behavior of the human process monitor: Experimental evaluation. Human Factors, 1979, 21, 671–686.
8.
MaulA. J.The importance of an updating internal representation of the environment in the control of visual sampling. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1985, 37A, 533–551.
9.
MorayN.Attention, control, and sampling behaviour. In SheridanT. B.JohannsenG. (Eds.) Monitoring Behavior and Supervisory Control, New York: Plenum, 1976, 221–244.
10.
MorayN.The strategic control of information processing. In UnderwoodG. (Ed.) Strategies of Information Processing, New York: Academic Press, 1978, 301–328.
11.
MorayN.Attention to dynamic visual displays in man-machine systems. In ParasuramanR.DaviesD. R. (Eds.) Varieties of Attention, New York: Academic Press. 1984. 485–513.
12.
SendersJ. W.An Investigation of Visual Sampling Behavior of Human Observers. Cambridge, Mass.: Bolt. Beranek and Newman, 1965, Report No. 1246.
SendersJ. W.PosnerM. J. M.A queueing model of monitoring and supervisory behavior. In SheridanT.JohannsenG. (Eds.) Monitoring Behavior and Supervisory Control, New York: Plenum, 1976, 245–260.
15.
TreismanA.GeffenG.Selective attention: Perception of response?Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1967, 19, 1–18.
