Computer based method for investigating divided attention and interference

Abstract

To assist students understand the difficult concepts of divided attention and interference, a new purpose built computer & mouse task is compared with an existing paper & pencil version, and yields complementary results. The pencil & paper task provides first-hand experience of divided attention and interference for the students. The computer & mouse task further extends the learning experience to the student’s workstation outside of the classroom, and has potential for larger scale implementation. The computer & mouse task is a good tool with some advantages over the paper & pencil task.