Cognitive Resource Demands During Climbing

Abstract

Climbing is a demanding physical activity often requiring communication with others. In sport and recreational climbing communication may be with belayers and team members. In occupations requiring climbing, like firefighting and search and rescue, this communication demand is even more pressing. Theories in human factors, such as Multiple Resource Theory (MRT), may be useful in designing and selecting communication technology appropriate for climbers. We present the results of a series of dual-task studies in which climbing is combined with a communication task. These results indicate climbing is highly cognitively demanding. Based on these results and MRT, we suggest the need for communication equipment that augments the climber’s memory and caution regarding the use of communication equipment using visual or tactile modalities.