The effect of dual-task training on attentional control: underlying mechanisms, intra/inter-individual differences, training/transfer specificity

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The ability of an individual to carry out multiple tasks concurrently has long been a central question in human cognition research. Such knowledge is important for both applied and fundamental cognition, as it may assist in our understanding of the limits of human cognition. In the laboratory, the dual-task paradigm is frequently used to study the ability to share or divide attention between concurrent tasks. A major source of debate in dual-task studies is whether two tasks really can be executed in parallel, or whether dual-task completion is rather based on switching strategies, such as holding the answer to one task in memory while completing a second task. Recently, studies have assessed the effect of extensive practice on dual-task performance in order to better understand the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying dual-task performance. Some studies have reported that practice enables participants to perfectly share their attention between two concurrent tasks. However, conflicting results have been reported, and substantial interindividual differences in the ability to coordinate two tasks have been observed. Another important question is whether getting faster and more accurate in the execution of concurrent tasks in the laboratory leads to benefits that generalize to multiple-tasks that have not been trained. The proposed research program will investigate such potential transfer effects after computer-based dual-task training. The research program will also address interindividual differences in the ability to share attention between tasks and to benefit from divided-attention training. The experiments proposed here are designed to enhance understanding of the mental processes underlying multiple-task performance, and how multi-tasking skills can be developed and improved. This approach will be used with both younger and older adults, as dual-task skills are affected by aging. It is believed that studying the relation that may exist between dual-tasking difficulties and other attentional deficits in older adults could help us understand how basic cognitive mechanisms sustain multiple-task performance, and how cognitive training can help to maintain and improve this ability.