ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the capacity of human operators to perform multiple tasks, which is affected by nature of our information processing, attentional processes, and memory, as well as the task properties. The ability to multitask has received considerable attention recently due to the controversy surrounding the increased crash risk of distracted drivers using cellular phones. Models of information processing emphasize the flow of information from sensory processes through hypothesized cognitive processes including attention, short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM), decision-making, and response-execution stages. These models conceive of human information processing in terms of a computer metaphor with distinct stages for input, processing, and output. The performance of everyday tasks relies on prospective memory and activation of different types of memory. Driving is a highly visual task, and one might reasonably expect that standard tests of visual ability including visual acuity, color vision, and stereoscopic vision might be predictive of crash risk.
