If the form-filler matches one of two conditions (married or have common- law spouse) they are asked to see section 2 on page 3. This is an easy locate at Level 1. No explicit instructions are offered if you don’t match these conditions, but it is not difficult to infer that one carries on to the next item. (Forms with complete navigation instructions are generally easier to fill in.)

To determine the actual spousal amount, the form filler has to identify the net income from his/her spouse and compare this to three ranges: over $6,661; less than $606; and between $606 and $6,661.

Actually fitting the spouse’s income into a list of three ranges is a integration task which rates 3 on the ‘type of match’ rubric for document processing. It is an integration task (3); compare (+0); 1 feature match (+0); 1 item response (+0); literal match (+0); no new information frame (+0). The type of information requested is an action, rated at 2. While most people will be able to identify spouse’s income, it is probable that some will not match the second feature of the locate, the word ‘net,’ and will carry on with the task with spouse’s gross income. The possibility of using the wrong income amount is a plausible distractor for the requested information.

The calculation that results if the spouse’s income is in the middle of the income range is not demanding. The numbers are in column format (+0); the numbers are adjacent (+0); the operation is identified with mathematical symbols (+0); the numbers are present (+0); units require no transformation (+0); total rating for operational specificity is 0. The type of operation is a single subtraction, which is rated at 2 (slightly more difficult than a single addition) Again, net and gross income may be confused, so there is a plausible distractor for the requested information.