Eye scan patterns of the time use trait and its use in management

The time use trait of monchronicity and polychronicity, which relates to one’s ability to do one thing and many things at a time respectively, has been known for a long time. However, its implications on how people scan and attend to information are not so clear. This study is an attempt to investigate the attentional strategy differences between monochrons (M) and polychrons (P) under different task conditions using eye scan equipment. Two groups of participants (monochrons and polychrons) performed a dual control task having 3 task priorities and 4 task difficulty levels. The results showed significant differences in scanning patterns between monochrons and polychrons, among task priorities and/or task difficulty levels. Results of this study may be useful in semi-automated systems in order to achieve optimal performance