Abstract
This study investigated the effect of autonomous prioritization on attention in a high-workload environment. It explored the “priority mystery,” or neglect of priority in switching behavior, found in previous Strategic Task Overload Model (STOM) experiments (Wickens Gutzwiller & Santamaria, 2015; Raby & Wickens 1994). We hypothesized that participants who could choose their own prioritization of tasks would view their prioritized task as more attractive and allocate more time and attention than participants who were not able to autonomously prioritize the tasks. Ninety-three participants were told to choose their own priority, given a priority, or not given any direction on priority of tasks. Participants had thirty minutes to complete two computer-based tasks and then were asked to rate the priority, interest, difficulty, and salience of each task. Priority influenced time on task most for the self-chosen priority group and not at all for the group given no priority direction. The more difficult task was also chosen less frequently. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.