Dualtasking

Dualtasking is the ability to perform two tasks at the same time, or the study of how attention and cognitive resources are allocated when doing two activities concurrently. In laboratory settings, dualtask paradigms present participants with a primary task and a secondary task and compare performance to when each task is performed alone. Common examples include walking while counting or naming words while monitoring a display.

Cognitive theories explain dualtask performance through central bottlenecks and resource sharing. The central bottleneck model posits that some processing stages are serial and cannot be overlapped, forcing a trade-off in performance. Resource theories suggest that cognitive resources are finite and shared across tasks; efficiency depends on task demands, modalities, and response channels. Performance decrements, or dualtask costs, are typically measured as slower reaction times or reduced accuracy under dualtask conditions.

Factors influencing dualtask costs include task similarity, complexity, and whether tasks can be carried out in parallel due to automaticity. Practice can reduce interference if one or both tasks become automatic, but performance rarely matches single-task levels, especially for novel or attention-demanding tasks. Prioritization instructions can also modulate outcomes.

Applications and implications: dualtask effects are especially relevant to everyday safety, such as driving while conversing or using a handheld device, where increased cognitive load can impair performance. In other contexts, trained individuals may maintain performance through expertise or strategic allocation of attention. Researchers use dualtask paradigms to study attention, aging, rehabilitation, and human factors.