Dynamic Multitasking Countermeasures to Improve Sustained Attention.

摘要

The unknown at the outset of this work was if high cognitive load environments would decrease alertness faster or more slowly. One outcome of the work is that stimulating environments seem to help preserve alertness. However, engaging someone with additional tasks to increase their alertness also resulted in losses to attentional orienting, meaning they missed more information from their environment as the demands of the secondary task increased. Thus, it appears that using secondary tasks to energize soldiers may provide benefits to alertness if they are engaged in monotonous tasks, but these tasks may decrease attention to the environment. The conclusion is that in cases of the most extreme declines in alertness, a secondary task is beneficial, but generally secondary tasks pose a threat to overall attentiveness.