A queueing network model of human performance of concurrent spatial and verbal tasks

This article describes a 3-node queueing network model of human performance of concurrent spatial and verbal tasks. The model integrates the concerns of single channel, queuing theoretic models of selective attention and parallel processing, multiple resources models of divided attention, and provides a computational framework to model both the task selection and the concurrent execution aspects of multitask performance. The single channel and multiple resources concepts and their applications in engineering models are reviewed. Experimental evidence in support of the queueing network model is summarized. The potential value of queueing network methods in developing integrated computational models of human multitask performance and of human machine interaction is discussed