# Studying the Role of Visuospatial Attention in the Multi-Attribute Task Battery II
## 1 Introduction  
### Impact Statement  
Human cognitive aptitude for specific applied tasks is often measured with tests or task batteries. These batteries mimic important surface characteristics of the applied task in question. As an example, take the Multi-Attribute Task Battery II (MATB-II). The MATB-II presents components of a flight console on a computer screen, and participants are requested to perform a sequence of subtasks typical for flying (e.g., monitoring for displaychanges or tracking of moving objects). Batteries such as the MATB-II have potentially high ecological or external validity [1; 2]. This is due to their real-world similarity. However, often less is known about their internal validity: it is unclear what underlying human function or mechanism they are measuring because a theoretical model connecting basic human functioning with task performance is lacking. Yet, this is important: to understand the basic functions involved helps to improve displays and training. For example, display signals can be designed to fit to the processing capabilities of the human user. Where this is not possible, known difficulties (e.g., high demands imposed by a faint or peripheral visual signal) could at least be made easier to process for humans by systematic training (e.g., practicing the systematic scanning of the display for the nonsalient signals). Regarding external versus internal validity, the situation is typically the opposite in a controlled experimental laboratory task. These controlled tasks often measure specific well-described underlying functions and are, therefore, of high internal validity. However, these controlled laboratory tasks are less similar to real-world tasks. Thus, their external and ecological validity is doubtful. It is unclear if they could be used successfully to discriminate individual aptitude in a specific real-world task. For example, the effects of separate cognitive functions or mechanisms (e.g., of memory capacity and inhibition of interference) might not simply add up in a complex real-world task. In the current study, we, therefore, aimed to understand the connection between performance in MATB-II and one specific experimental task measuring visuospatial attention. Visuospatial attention denotes the selection of locations in the visual environment. This ability is highly relevant for flight performance. For example, visuospatial attention is used to monitor or track different parts of a flight console. However, do individual capabilities of visuospatial attention predict performance in the MATB-II? Or is MATB-II performance driven by other cognitive factors such as memory or the ability to switch between tasks? In addition, maybe humans steer their visuospatial attention in the MATB-II entirely differently from how they do it in a typical visual search task used to measure visuospatial attention under controlled laboratory conditions. In the current study, in line with the latter possibilities, we did not find any significant correlations between human performance on an experimental task measuring visuospatial attention and the MATB-II. This was also the case for unobtrusive measures of cognitive performance. In summary, thus, the present work was concerned with the internal validity of the MATB-II. Questions regarding the external validity or ecological validity of both the MATB-II and of our controlled measure of visuospatial attention were not addressed. However, the fact that we did not test external validity--for example, that we did not test the sensitivity of the MATB-II for the correct discrimination between experts (pilots) and novices--might have created a caveat. Because we used an opportunity sample consisting of mostly students and a few professional pilots, cognitive performance in this sample might have simply created too little variance (though we varied task difficulty on the MATB-II to create some variance in cognitive performance).