Toward establishing a link between psychomotor task complexity and human information processing

The objective of this research is to propose and validate a link between an existing information processing model for psychomotor tasks and a comprehensive characterization of task complexity. This was achieved by incorporating four constructs of task complexity either alone or in combination into a hierarchical computer-based menu system. The results showed that as the number of constructs present in the interface increased, subjects experienced an increased challenge to short-term memory which impaired performance. A modified information processing model is provided that reflects a short-term memory link between psychomotor information processing and the complexity of a psychomotor task.