title: Preliminary examination of timesharing in United States Air Force ROTC cadets.
abstract: Previous research has shown that timesharing ability--the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously--is related to various indices of aircraft pilots' proficiency. Superior timesharing has also been demonstrated by experienced pilots. The present study examined timesharing of United States Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) cadets, who are relatively inexperienced (some with no flying experience). 10 AFROTC cadets (M age = 21.4 yr., SD = 1.0) and 18 noncadets (M age = 19.8 yr., SD = 0.9) were evaluated. Participants performed a tracking task on the Multi-Attribute Task battery in a single-task condition, a dual-task condition, and a tri-task condition. Cadets' tracking performance was superior to that by noncadets in the dual-task and tri-task conditions.
authors.affiliation: Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Suite 4700, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. dhardy@lmu.edu
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Allison K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mitrovich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001076:Aptitude; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001359:Aviation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D035061:Control Groups; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D017748:Time Management / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology