Self-organized versus externally controlled task scheduling when facing multiple cognitive task requirements

在许多多任务处理的情况下，我们可以自己决定安排任务的顺序。在这个项目中，我们比较了参与者自己组织如何应对多重认知任务要求的条件和任务组织受外部控制从而预先确定任务调度的条件。此外，我们还研究了自愿任务切换（VTS）范式变体中任务决策和任务绩效的相互作用，以审视多任务处理的灵活性。在项目的第一部分，我们推进了三条研究路线。首先，我们表明，那些自己组织任务顺序的参与者在执行任务时，可以从看到备选任务的可能性中获利——这表明，在切换任务时，成本更小，甚至相反。然而，任务组织也有成本，因为参与者表示，与外部控制的任务切换相比，自我组织的总体努力更多。其次，我们进化出一种新的VTS范式，即自组织任务切换范式。有了这个范例，我们能够证明参与者选择任务顺序取决于与任务切换相关的性能成本，而不是任务重复。第三，我们证明了当转换成本或任务难度变化时，参与者可以灵活地选择任务顺序。拟议项目第二阶段的目标是基于参与者根据转换成本适应转换行为的这些发现。在项目的第二部分，我们的目标是专注于五个研究课题。首先，我们的目标是优化自组织任务切换范式。其次，我们要确定支持灵活适应的操作。第三，我们计划一个合作项目来研究跨多任务范式的灵活适应的个体差异。第四，我们的目标是详细阐述使参与者选择任务顺序与任务绩效相关的机制。详细地说，我们问适应任务选择以优化性能的能力是否与感知时间的能力有关。第五，我们想调查参与者是否适应他们的任务选择关于知觉和运动表现的困难。这个项目特别有助于优先项目的灵活性。在视角和目标方面（协调提案表1），本项目重点关注目标(2)认知控制和意向设置。该项目还有助于灵活性视角、目标(1)独立任务和目标的能力共享和并行处理的基本机制(3)多任务绩效的情境影响，并有助于可塑性视角的目标：(3)专业知识和自动化；(4)提高多任务绩效的组织措施和干预措施。

In many multitasking situations, we can ourselves decide in which order we schedule the tasks that have to be performed. In this project, we compare conditions in which participants themselves organize how to cope with multiple cognitive task requirements with conditions in which task organization is externally controlled and thus task scheduling is pre-determined. In addition, we investigate the interplay of task decisions and task performance in variants of the voluntary task switching (VTS) paradigm to scrutinized flexibility in multitasking. In the first part of the project, we advanced three lines of research. First, we showed that participants who themselves organize task order profit from the possibility to see the alternative tasks while performing a task – indicated by smaller or even reversed costs when switching tasks. Yet, task organization also came across with costs, because participants indicated overall more effort in self-organized compared to externally controlled task switching. Second, we evolved a novel variant of the VTS paradigm, the self-organized task switching paradigm. With this paradigm, we were able to show that participants chose task order depending on the performance costs related to task switches compared to task repetitions. Third, we demonstrated that participants flexibly chose task order when either switch costs or task difficulty varied. The objectives for the second period of the proposed project are based on these findings that participants adapt switching behavior according to switch costs. In the second part of the project, we aim to focus on five research topics. First, we aim to optimize our self-organized task switching paradigm. Second, we want to identify manipulations that support flexible adaptation. Third, we plan a collaboration project to examine inter-individual differences in flexible adaptation across multitasking paradigms. Forth, we aim to elaborate on the mechanisms that enable participants to choose task order in relation to task performance. In detail, we ask whether the ability to adapt task choice to optimize performance relates to the ability to perceive time. And fifth, we want to investigate whether participants adapt their task choices to difficulties regarding perceptual and motor performance. This project specifically contributes to the priority program’s flexibility perspective. Regarding perspectives and objectives (Table 1 of the coordination proposal), this project is focused on the objective (2) Cognitive control and intentional set. The project also contributes to the flexibility perspective, objective (1) Basic mechanisms of capacity sharing and parallel processing of independent tasks and objective (3) Situational influence of multitask performance, and it contributes to objectives from the plasticity perspective: (3) Expertise and automatization and (4) Organizational measures and interventions improving multitask performance.