Task loading

A task load indicates the degree of difficulty experienced when performing a task, and task loading describes the accumulation of tasks that are necessary to perform an operation. A light task loading can be managed by the operator with capacity to spare in case of contingencies. Task loads are primarily associated with <a href="/facts/Underwater_diving/yhjLjF1H">underwater diving</a>. They are also associated with workloads in other environments, such as aircraft cockpits and <a href="/facts/Command_and_control/t1huKNbX">command and control</a> stations.
Task loads may be measured and compared. <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> uses six sub-scales in <a href="/facts/NASA-TLX/1CrupbMl">their task load rating procedure</a>. Three of these relate to the demands on the subject and the other three to interactions between subject and task. Ratings contain a large personal component and may vary considerably between subjects, and over time as experience is gained.

<ol><li>Mental Demands: How much mental and perceptual effort is required;</li>
<li>Physical Demands: How much physical effort is required;</li>
<li>Temporal Demands: How much time pressure the subject feels;</li>
<li>Own Performance: Rating of how successfully the task was performed;</li>
<li>Effort: Rating of how much effort was put into the task; and</li>
<li>Frustration: Rating of how frustrating or satisfying the task was to perform.</li></ol>
In underwater diving, task loading increases the risk of failure by the diver to undertake some key basic function which would normally be routine for safety underwater. A heavy task loading may overwhelm the diver if something does not go according to plan. This is particularly a problem in <a href="/facts/Scuba_diving/BEvQImbN">scuba diving</a>, where the breathing gas supply is limited and delays may cause decompression obligations. The same workload may be a light task loading to a skilled diver with considerable experience of all the component tasks, and heavy task loading for a diver with little experience of some of the tasks. 
Excessive task loading is implicated in many diving accidents, and may be limited by adding tasks one at a time, and adequately developing the requisite skills for each before adding more.

Task loading open-in-new

Task loading