Causes and consequences of errors in dual-tasking

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Efficient task performance requires an error monitoring system that detects errors and initiates control adjustments in order to prevent further errors. These mechanisms are even more important when multiple subtasks are executed simultaneously or in rapid succession as interference between subtasks makes dual-tasking performance particularly error-prone. The present project investigates how reliable error monitoring under dual-tasking is achieved, and how errors can be prevented by adaptive cognitive control processes. The project focusses on four research questions: First, we investigate how errors on the subtask-level and dual-task-level are simultaneously monitored. Second, we ask how the error monitoring system solves the credit assignment problem that emerges when multiple error signals have to be correctly assigned to their corresponding tasks. Third, we address how dynamic changes of visual attention following errors contribute to adaptive control adjustments and error-induced interference. And finally, we examine how successful dual-tasking performance is achieved by advance preparation. Our methodological approach is to analyze behavioral data and event-related potentials in the Psychological Refractory Period paradigm. Our studies aim to improve our basic understanding of the architecture of error monitoring and the operation of cognitive control under dual-tasking.