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Public reponring burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching e0Msbng data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number, PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY)2. REPORT SPONSORING i MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)Office of Naval Research Ballston Tower One While multi-tasking (MT) may increase productivity, it also carries a tremendous downside including error, decreased morale, high training costs, high turnover rates, and attrition. This research shows that it is now possible to develop a test that would measure how individuals vary in their ability to concurrently perform multiple tasks under time limited conditions. The purposes of the present research were to (1) investigate complex real-world MT environments, (2) investigate existing measures of MT, and (3) begin development of a practical test of the ability. Current standards for educational and psychological tests served to guide the process of test development. Based on testing standards, a plan for development of an MT ability test was created. The initial phases of test development were also completed. The purpose, scope, and framework for the test are described in the report and the test specifications currently supported by empirical research are also given. This report also describes the additional research necessary for further development of a test of MT ability. SUBJECT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis research has greatly benefited from the contributions of several individuals. We would first like to thank the project's program officer, Susan Chipman for her continuing pursuit of a robust test of multi-tasking ability. Science is only beginning to understand the ability to concurrently perform multiple tasks in complex real-world settings. A reliable and predictive measure of the individual differences that underlie performance in laboratory and real-world multi-tasking environments would greatly promote both scientific and applied interests. Susan Chipman's continued interest in multi-tasking has made this project a reality, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to knowledge about this topic. We would also like to thank her for her insights about multi-tasking, directing us to important literature areas, and her able managem...

Past research has suggested that a coordination ability may critically contribute in the capacity to control attention in situations of increased mental load. Evidence for such an ability was sought by analyzing individual differences in performance in a complex, real-time task. The task required the integration of information obtained from visual and verbal processing channels to produce a single response. Subjects saw two objects moving across a visual display and had to determine the veracity of a verbal statement about the objects, e.g., "object A is not moving faster than object B." Verbal statements varied in syntactic complexity and truth value and visual displays varied in the relative speed ratio of the moving objects. Male and female subjects (N = 60) performed the verbal and spatial tasks alone and in combination across testing sessions. Gender differences were obtained for the speed judgment task with males demonstrating greater sensitivity in detecting speed differences. Support for a general coordination ability was weak in the full sample. However, when male and female data were analyzed separately, evidence was obtained among females for the contribution of a coordination ability in performing the combined task. The latter finding is attributed to male-female differences in the resource load associated with processing dynamic spatial information.