Is Performance Tradeoff an Experimental Artifact?

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of the resource notion, which is the basis for the secondary task technique of workload assessment. The unbiased optimum-maximum method proposed by Navon (1984) was used to manipulate task priority without conveying to the subjects that time-shared performance must tradeoff. Three task pairs that fell on a continuum of degree of shared resources were tested. The data showed that performance tradeoff is not an experimental artifact. Moreover, the data suggested that increased degree of shared resources led to increased resource allocation optimality and decreased time-sharing efficiency, as predicted by multiple resource theories. The present data suggests that resource theories are useful in explaining dual task performance, and that the secondary task can be a useful workload assessment tool.