Attention and Multitasking Flashcards

You are monitoring a frequency where six aircraft are active. Aircraft identifiers are: KLM712, BAW92, UAL5, EZY441, RYR88, DLH56. After five minutes, you are asked which aircraft called last. The skill being tested is:

Answer: Sustained attention and sequential memory for radio communications

Recalling the order of radio calls requires sustained attention over time and short-term sequential memory — both core FEAST attention skills.

A controller is scanning a radar display with 10 tracks. They must detect any aircraft that deviates more than 200 ft from its cleared altitude. This task primarily assesses:

Answer: Sustained attention and vigilance for change detection

Continuously monitoring a display for rare deviations is a classic vigilance and sustained attention task — the core of radar monitoring work.

A candidate is given two tasks simultaneously: tracking numbers on a screen and responding to audio tones. Performance on both tasks is measured. This type of test assesses:

Answer: Divided attention — the ability to monitor and respond to two independent streams concurrently

Performing two independent tasks at the same time tests divided attention, which is directly relevant to ATC multitasking demands.

Over a 20-minute monitoring period, an aircraft that should be stationary on the radar begins slowly drifting. A controller who detects this drift early demonstrates:

Answer: High vigilance — detecting a subtle change against a stable background over time

Detecting slow, subtle change in a stable scene over time is the defining characteristic of vigilance — maintaining alert monitoring when most stimuli are normal.

A controller must simultaneously track aircraft callsigns, their current altitudes, cleared altitudes, and heading instructions. The mental resource most stressed by this task is:

Answer: Working memory capacity — holding and updating multiple information elements

Holding and continuously updating multiple items (callsigns, altitudes, headings) for active use is a direct working memory demand.

During a simulated ATC task, a candidate is given a primary radar-monitoring task plus a secondary arithmetic task. Their performance on the radar task is measured with and without the arithmetic task running. The purpose of this dual-task design is to:

Answer: Measure the cost of the secondary task on primary task performance — revealing attentional spare capacity

Dual-task designs measure the 'attentional cost' of concurrent demands, revealing how much spare capacity a candidate retains during the primary task.