# Studying the Role of Visuospatial Attention in the Multi-Attribute Task Battery II
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Procedure and Task
Throughout the search task, participants had to search for the disk in their instructed target color and respond by clicking either the left or right mouse-button, depending on whether the symbol inside the target disc was a \"+\" or an \"\(\times\)\". After the button press, a feedback display was shown, telling the participants whether they clicked the correct (German word \"richtig\") or the incorrect (German word \"falsch\") button. For each participant, there was one target color, a particular order in which the rounds of the distractor-absent, distractor-present/target-similar, and distractor-present/target-dissimilar conditions were realized, and a specific stimulus-to-response mapping (i.e., whether an \"\(\times\)\" required the left and the \"+\" required the right button press, or vice versa). To ensure that participants understood the task, they practiced the search task for at least 20 trials in the distractor-absent condition before data collection started. The task was practiced in the distractor-absent condition, as this was probably the easiest condition. In the second block, participants were introduced to the MATB-II (see Figure 3). The MATB-II is a computer-based task battery designed to evaluate operator performance and workload with a simplified simulated cockpit console. It requires the simultaneous performance on and unforeseeable switches between several subtasks: system monitoring, tracking, communication, and dynamic resource management tasks ([[https://math.larc.nasa.gov/?doing_wp_cron=1649083621.1180279254913330078125](https://math.larc.nasa.gov/?doing_wp_cron=1649083621.1180279254913330078125)]([https://math.larc.nasa.gov/?doing_wp_cron=1649083621.1180279254913330078125](https://math.larc.nasa.gov/?doing_wp_cron=1649083621.1180279254913330078125)), accessed on 3 August 2021). To perform the tasks, participants used a joystick (Model: Logitech Attack 3) and a standard computer mouse. The colored rectangles in Figure 3 around the task-specific locations were not shown to the participants. They are just helpful illustrations for referencing particular locations. On the upper left, the region surrounded by a red rectangle, numbered 1, as well as the region right below it, surrounded by a blue rectangle with the number 2, is the \"System Monitoring\" task. The area surrounded by the green rectangle, numbered 3, is the \"Tracking\" task. Bottom left, the area within the yellow rectangle and the number 4 is the \"Communication\" task, and to its right, the pink rectangle, numbered 5, is the \"Resource Management\" task. All tasks will be further explained in the following paragraphs. System Monitoring: This task requires participants to monitor two warning lights (\"F5\" and \"F6\") in the areas within the red boundaries of Figure 3, designated by the number 1. Participants have to monitor that \"F5\" stays on/green and that \"F6\" stays out/gray. If either of those states changes (\"F5\" turns out/gray or \"F6\" turns on/red), participants must respond by left-clicking the corresponding display button. Additionally, the dark-blue pointers in the scales \"F1\" to \"F4\" in the areas of Figure 3, surrounded by blue outlines and designated by the number 2, have to stay within a certain range around the midpoint. If a pointer deviates too much from the midpoint, the participant has to correct/reset its position to the midpoint by left-clicking on the corresponding scale. Tracking: participants are asked to use a joystic to track the moving circle with the crosshair as a cursor in the area with the green boundary in Figure 3, designated by the number 3. To note, the \"Scheduling\" timeline to the right of this area is also related to tracking. It shows when the tracking task has to be performed manually and when it switches to \"autopilot\". The two green bars on the right, above the small \"T\" (=Tracking), signal to the participant in advance that the tracking task must be performed manually.