Simultaneous task performance : test of the multiple resource model

An experiment was conducted to rest a version of the multiple resource model o£ information processing which equated the cerebral hemispheres with resource pools. Subjects were required to perform one of two target tasks (.CVC recognition or dot localization) simultaneously with one of four load tasks (shape or letter matching or, noun or line categorization). Load task interference effects on target task reaction time were obtained only for the dot localization task. Semantic tasks produced more interference than spatial tasks. Categorization tasks produced more interference than matching tasks. The noun categorization task produced more interference than the line categorization task. Some of these effects were evident in increased variability of reaction times ^z well as in increased reaction times as such. Interference with target task performance was not evident in the accuracy variable. In general, the results did not support the cerebral hemisphere-based resource pool version of the multiple resource model on which this study was based. While the multiple resource model could be modified to explain the obtained data, it is not clear, that the model, as it now stands, has any predictive utility.