Dynamics of the Eye and Head when Switching Visual Attention Between Two Tasks
Gordon H. Robinson, Frank J Rath · 1976
Abstract : Subjects were required, on command, to shift their attention from an ongoing manual control task to a peripheral monitor displaying digital information for a discrete processing task. Measurements were made of eye and head dynamics during the visual search and processing tasks. The independent variables of monitor angle, monitor discriminability, certainty of monitor location, processing task complexity and the subjects' tracking task performance status at the time of the visual search command were examined for possible effects on the visual search patterns. Dependent performance measures included the reaction times of the eye and head, the time to acquire the monitor and the pattern of saccadic eye movements during this period, the time of fixation on the monitor, the time required for the processing task, and the time to reacquire the control task.