Thank you for your responses to my question regarding focus of attention. It
is clear from your discussion (and from discussions with my students) that
there are three clear sources of attention distraction for pilots:
1) multiple tasks within the cockpit
2) interests and concerns brought into the cockpit from the pilot's business
or personal life.
3) physiological factors such as stress, illness, fatigue, etc.
I realize that focus of attention in the cockpit requires the ability to
quickly change focus of attention when subtile ques show that to be prudent
action. This was found in the original Gopher and Kahneman study. That's why
I like to use the attention control -- to show that both aspects are
necessary (clear focus and ability to shift when necessary). I may be
necessary to use different approaches for the different sources of
distraction. Hypnosis may be a tool some can use but it is not available to
most of aviation. WOMBAT does test for multiple task allocation of attention
so it should be that source of distraction. I like the idea of doing
multiple tasks but I'm not sure about doing them intentionally while
driving. I have noted that people driving cars while talking on a car phone
have the same accident rate as those who are legally drunk!!!
Dick