Effects on Sustained Performance of Time-Sharing a Three-Phase Code Transformation Task (3P-Cotran)

Abstract

The 3P-COTRAN task was time-shared with 5 different combinations of tasks selected from a multiple-task performance battery (MTPB) used in a synthetic-work approach to the study of work behavior or sustained performance (Alluisi, 1969). 20 Ss previously trained to a high level of skill on the 3P-COTRAN task were divided at random into 5 groups of 4 Ss, each of which then time-shared the task with a different combination of MTPB tasks. Results were analyzed in terms of both the effects of the time-sharing on the 3P-COTRAN performances, and the effects of 3P-COTRAN on the time-shared MTPB performances. Evidence of the adoption of different response strategies to time-shared tasks, especially under conditions of operator over-load, or work-load or performance stress, was found, and the methodological implications of this finding are discussed.