STRUCTURAL MODELING OF INFORMATION COORDINATION ABILITIES - AN EVALUATION AND EXTENSION OF THE YEE, HUNT, AND PELLEGRINO MODEL

The intention of this research was to extend the Yee, Hunt, and Pelleg rino (1991) model of information coordination and provide further evid ence for the contribution of such abilities to individual differences in multitask performance. Three experiments investigated information c oordination abilities using confirmatory factor analysis. Across all t hree experiments evidence was provided in support of both across-domai n (Experiments 1 and 2) and within-domain (Experiment 3) coordination abilities. In addition, it was discovered that (a) the contribution of a coordination ability to coordination task performance decreased wit h practice on such tasks, (b) the relative contribution of a coordinat ion ability to coordination task performance was dependent upon the co mplexity of the coordination situation, and (c) coordination abilities were uncorrelated with other cognitive ability constructs. Results fr om all three experiments are discussed in the context of Baddeley's (1 986) working memory model, especially with respect to the functioning of the central executive. Arguments are made that coordination tasks p rovide useful vehicles for future research exploring such working memo ry models.