
The Commingled Division of Visual Attention - Hooke
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130611
======
jrapdx3
Very interesting, if unsurprising that increasing demand on attention reduces
efficiency. I suppose that's what I dislike about the busy visual displays
installed in new cars, and why I turn it off in rental cars. Hard enough to
drive in an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city without the additional
distraction.

I'll read the article in detail, but seems logical that other sensory input
would have similar attention-splitting results. I was thinking about the
apparently preoccupied drivers using their mobile phones and trying to
negotiate downtown traffic at the same time.

Lessons may be in it re: design/engineering of instrumentation for automobile
operation and other critical attention tasks. Basically, would seem fall under
the heading of constructing UI that minimizes risks to attention.

------
pshc
So let see if I understand this--if as a test subject your task is to perceive
two different criteria in the same scene concurrently, performance drops off
dramatically?

Sounds about right. Take video games. Whenever I've tried one of those
indie/experimental games where you need to deal with multiple problems
simultaneously, my brain enters this anxious mode where I keep flip-flopping
between paying attention to qualia A or qualia B. It's such a stressful mode.
God, Towerfall is hard.

