Alvarez, GeorgeHorowitz, Todd S.Arsenio, Helga C.DiMase, Jennifer S.Wolfe, Jeremy2019-07-172005Alvarez, George A., Todd S. Horowitz, Helga C. Arsenio, Jennifer S. DiMase, and Jeremy M. Wolfe. "Do Multielement Visual Tracking and Visual Search Draw Continuously on the Same Visual Attention Resources?" Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 31, no. 4 (2005): 643-67.1939-12770096-1523http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40934193Multielement visual tracking and visual search are 2 tasks that are held to require visual-spatial attention. The authors used the attentional operating characteristic (AOC) method to determine whether both tasks draw continuously on the same attentional resource (i.e., whether the 2 tasks are mutually exclusive). The authors found that observers can search and track within the same trial significantly better than would be predicted if the 2 tasks were mutually exclusive. In fact, the AOC for tracking and search is similar to that for tracking and auditory monitoring. The results of additional experiments support an attention-switching account for this high level of dual-task performance in which a single attentional resource is efficiently switched between the tracking and search. The results provide important constraints for architectures of visual selective attention and the mechanisms of multielement tracking.en-USExperimental and Cognitive PsychologyArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)Behavioral Neurosciencetrackingsearchattentiondual taskattention operating characteristicJournal Article2019-07-1710.1037/0096-1523.31.4.643