Human Information Processing Rates during Certain Multiaxis Tracking Tasks with a Concurrent Auditory Task

A series of experiments was conducted to determine the information processing rates of several subjects performing one- and two-axis compensatory tracking tasks with a secondary auditory task. The experimental variables were the order of controlled element dynamics, the forcing function, and the addition of a secondary task. Human information processing rates decreased slightly on each tracking channel with the addition of the second tracking channel or the secondary auditory task. Other than this effect, the information processing rates were additive until a limit in the total information processing rate was reached. This limit was related to the order of the controlled element.