Acquisition and transfer of attention allocation strategies in a multiple-task work environment

OBJECTIVE: Payoff effects on strategy development and change were assessed in a synthetic work environment, SYNWORK1. BACKGROUND: Many work settings require several tasks to be performed concurrently. It is important to know how the strategies used in performing the respective tasks vary with payoffs. METHOD: Sixty students performed four tasks in SYNWORK1, for which points are received for correct responses and lost for incorrect responses. Individual-task payoffs were varied between participants and were changed after 8 and 12 sessions to examine the effects of a previous strategy on development of a new strategy. RESULTS: Participants were sensitive to initial payoffs and modified their strategies when payoffs changed. However, residual effects of prior payoffs were evident. CONCLUSION: Payoffs for multiple-task environments need to be explicit, and practice should be provided for strategy development. When payoffs change, strategies adopted reflect current and previous payoffs. APPLICATION: The findings can be applied to the design of payoff schedules for multiple-task environments.