ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the practical aspects of dual-task methodology to assess human performance under dual-task conditions. It provides a brief discussion of task integration, which occurs when subjects combine two tasks into one, more complex task. When the tasks use separate stimuli, the stimuli may be presented in the same modality, e.g., both are presented visually, or in different modalities. The chapter explains implementation of the task combination, practice, and the control of task priorities through concurrent feedback. Task combinations present different methodological problems from tasks performed in isolation and warrant special consideration. In a dual-task combination, subjects can be required to process the information from one of the tasks in three different ways: completely independently of the concurrent task, using the intertask correlations, and integrating the information from the other task. Some recent experiments use a traditional configuration, two separate response channels, but require very infrequent responses to one of the tasks.
