Training-induced plasticity of multitasking in everyday-like motor behavior

日常生活中的许多活动都涉及感觉运动和认知多任务处理。经常被引用的例子是驾驶汽车，准备一顿正式的饭菜，控制工业机械和在忙碌的交通中过马路。然而，多任务性能随着年龄的增长而下降，这可能会在老龄化社会的背景下给日常生活带来问题。这些不同的趋势要求训练计划，建立在已知的训练诱导的可塑性的多任务的任务，需要感觉运动性能。目前还不清楚如何设计训练制度，以有效和高效地提高日常生活中的多任务性能。理论家提出，执行功能可能有助于多任务，特别是在老年，因此，执行功能的训练可能会积极影响多任务的表现。因此，我们的目标是调查是否以及哪些执行功能有助于日常多任务处理，以及这种贡献在年轻人和老年人之间是否存在差异。此外，我们将调查是否培训干预，加强某些执行功能可能会获得有益的和可转移的影响，在生态有效的背景下多任务。我们提出了三个互补的工作包（WP）。WP1将评估年轻人与老年人多任务执行功能的作用，WP2将探索这种贡献的神经元相关性，WP3将解决老年人多任务训练诱导的可塑性。由于实验室的范例并不一定会转移到真实的生活中，我们将探讨在现实情况下的多任务处理。由于训练的好处已经被证明是特定于任务的，我们将使用两个非常不同的现实感觉运动多任务：汽车驾驶和过马路。我们的研究结果将有助于多任务处理的理论概念，并为预防与年龄相关的衰退的措施开辟了一条途径。

Many activities of daily life involve sensorimotor and cognitive multitasking. Often-cited examples are driving a car, preparing a formal meal, controlling industrial machinery and crossing a street in busy traffic. Multitask performance, however, declines with increasing age, which might cause problems for everyday life in the context of an aging society. These diverging trends call for training programs that build upon the known training-induced plasticity of multitasking in tasks requiring sensorimotor performance. It is still not clear how training regimes need to be designed to effectively and efficiently improve multitask performance in everyday life. Theorists have proposed that executive functions might contribute towards multitasking, particularly in old age, and that training of executive functions therefore might positively influence multitask performance. Thus, we aim to investigate whether and which executive functions contribute to everyday-like multitasking and whether this contribution differs between young and older adults. Further we will investigate whether training interventions that strengthen certain executive functions might gain beneficial and transferable effect on multitasking in ecologically valid contexts. We propose three complementary work packages (WPs). WP1 will evaluate the role of executive functions for multitasking in young versus older adults, WP2 will explore the neuronal correlates of this contribution, and WP3 will address the training-induced plasticity of multitasking in older persons. Since laboratory paradigms do not necessarily transfer to real life, we will explore multitasking in realistic situations. As training benefits have been shown to be task-specific, we will use two widely different realistic sensorimotor multitasks: car driving and street crossing. Our findings will contribute towards theoretical concepts of multitasking, and open up an avenue for preventive measures against age-related decay.