Interference between switched tasks

Abstract

Interference between tasks in a task-switching situation was interpreted in terms of theoretical models of time-sharing. Controlled processing of two separate tasks in a time-sharing situation was hypothesized to require a strategy of management whose ease of execution depends on the complexity of the task involved. Switching from one task to the other requires activation • of the resources required for performance of the new task and inhibition of the resources engaged in the first task. Failures in either of these two processes will interfere with the performance of the second task. This hypothesis was tested in a situation in which subjects had to switch from one detection task to another. Interruption of one task to carry out another task increased both processing time and error rate in the second task. The types of error (intrusions, confusions and omissions) were considered to be specific to timesharing.