Performance, Workload, and Stress Correlates of Temporal and Spatial Task Demands

Increased understanding of the mechanisms by which stress impacts performance is essential to the design and operation of complex information systems. T h s study represents a test of the hypothesis of Hancock, Szalma, and Weaver (2002) that the attentional narrowing observed under stressful conditions results from spatial and temporal perception drawing on common resource capacities. Although the present results were unable to resolve the specific issue to a satisfactory degree, a novel finding was observed that noise increases leniency in responding. The impact of noise on performance thus depends on the characteristics of the task to be performed, with spatial uncertainty exerting a significant influence on perceived workload.