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

长期以来，个体同时执行多项任务的能力一直是人类认知研究的中心问题。这种知识对应用认知和基本认知都很重要，因为它可以帮助我们理解人类认知的极限。在实验室中，双任务范式经常被用来研究在并发任务之间分享或分散注意力的能力。在双任务研究中，争论的一个主要来源是两个任务是否真的可以并行执行，或者双任务的完成是否更多地基于切换策略，例如在完成第二个任务的同时将一个任务的答案保存在内存中。最近，为了更好地理解双重任务绩效背后的基本认知机制，研究人员对广泛练习对双重任务绩效的影响进行了评估。一些研究报告说，练习使参与者能够在两个同时进行的任务之间完美地分享他们的注意力。然而，已有相互矛盾的结果被报道，并观察到在协调两项任务的能力方面存在显著的个体差异。另一个重要的问题是，在实验室中更快、更准确地执行并发任务是否会带来普遍的好处，适用于未经训练的多项任务。拟议的研究计划将在基于计算机的双重任务训练后调查这种潜在的迁移效应。该研究计划还将解决在任务之间分享注意力和从分散注意力训练中受益的能力方面的个体差异。这里提出的实验旨在加强对多任务表现背后的心理过程的理解，以及如何发展和提高多任务技能。这种方法既适用于年轻人，也适用于老年人，因为双重任务的技能会受到年龄的影响。研究老年人的双重任务困难和其他注意缺陷之间可能存在的关系，可以帮助我们理解基本的认知机制是如何维持多任务表现的，以及认知训练如何有助于维持和提高这种能力。

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.