Abstract
9 tasks involving multiple inputs and multiple responses were administered. The tasks involved monitoring, shadowing, and ignoring, in all combinations, monaural and dichotic messages. Miss rates were compared to determine the effect of adding additional demands to different tasks. Results suggested that, when a demand was added to a task, attention was allocated away primarily from those demands already receiving the greatest amounts of attention, to accommodate the new demand. When the new demand drew attention toward a channel, those demands already receiving the least amounts of attention gained the largest amounts. There were several exceptions to these trends, suggesting that the total amount of effort available for allocation was apparently an important variable. The implication of the results for research in attention was discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.