An Initial Investigation of Factors Affecting Multi-Task Performance

Abstract

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Military Cognitive Readiness at the Operational and Strategic Levels

“…Neuroticism, which is “characterized by a chronic level of emotional instability and proneness to psychological distress” (Vandenbos, 2007, p. 622), has the strongest evidence for predicting performance. Many researchers have shown that neuroticism negatively correlates with performance, particularly in stressful environments, such as military operations (Branscome, Swoboda, & Fatkin, 2007; Kustabayeva, Panganiban, & Matthews, 2010; Lubin et al, 1999; Mastin, Peszka, Poling, Phillips, & Duke, 2005; Palinkas, 2001). Furthermore, individuals who score high on neuroticism experience greater feelings of workload, stress, tense arousal, worry, distress, and negative affect than do low-neuroticism individuals, even when they are able to maintain the same levels of performance (Guznov, Matthews, & Warm, 2010; Matthews et al, 2006; Szalma & Teo, 2010).…”

“…That said, there is overlap between (a) conscientiousness; (b) psychoticism, “characterized by aggression, impulsivity, aloofness, and antisocial behavior” (Vandenbos, 2007, p. 757) in the three-factor model; and (c) impulsivity in the alternate five-factor model (Zuckerman et al, 1993). This is surprising, as both conscientiousness from the five-factor model and impulsivity from the alternate five-factor model have shown positive correlations to performance (Branscome et al, 2007; Cosenzo et al, 2007; Lubin et al, 1999; Matthews et al, 2006; Palinkas, 2001). If the factors do overlap, one would expect that conscientiousness would be positively correlated and impulsivity would be negatively correlated.…”

Individual Differences in Multitasking Ability and Adaptability

“…Furthermore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to multitasking because performance varies across individuals (e.g., Watson & Strayer, 2010). Some people even report a preference for multitasking (e.g., Branscome, Swoboda, & Fatkin, 2007; Poposki, Oswald, & Brou, 2009; Slocombe & Bluedorn, 1999), although the association between preference and performance is unclear. There have been some attempts to identify the individual differences associated with multitasking performance.…”

Performance-Based Adaptability Profiles in Multitasking

“…Multitasking 1 has become a common practice in today's world. In fact, some people even prefer to multitask rather than complete one task at a time (Branscome, Swoboda, & Fatkin, 2007;Poposki, Oswald, & Brou, 2009;Slocombe & Bluedorn, 1999). Multitasking is also required for many occupations (Bühner, König, Pick, and Krumm, 2006), and is even expected in the classroom (Watson, Terry, & Doolittle, 2012).…”