channelized attention
channelized attention vs "attention management" (as Tony Kern discusses in his "Flight Discipline"). The Human Factors are interesting: a pilot must be capable of Channelized Attention during turbulence, precipitation-static on the radios, &ct. But, that same ability later gets him "distracted" during CRZ on a nice day.
Note to the NO LAPTOPs chanters: Pilots often have abandon the 50-Lbs of paper manuals. Instead many pilots now carry the the big manuals as a pdf-file on a laptop. So, at many companies, one pilot has to be free to access the laptop to check details in the manuals.
Regarding Pilot Ethics, Professional Standards, and Cockpit Housekeeping taboos -- I'm adding the Laptop (more than one) to my list of Housekeeping taboos. FAA & airlines need to define some guidelines for any airline's "Pilot Flying". [I always chuckled when the FO-PF asked me if I'ld mind if he read the newspaper -- a question that always led me to wonder about that guys' background on historic inflight upsets.]