Training's Effect on Dual-Task Performance: More Research

In 2005, a team of researchers from the University of Montreal at Quebec, George Mason University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign published a study in the journal Psychology and Aging titled "Training Effects on Dual-Task Performance: Are There Age-Related Differences in Plasticity of Attentional Control?" The results of their experiment suggest the answer is yes. More specifically, dual-task training appears to produce greater improvements in the performance of senior citizens than it does in college kids. One explanation for the observed results is that senior citizens exhibited poorer performances on the study's initial measure of dual-task capacity than college kids, so the older subjects benefited from having more room to improve. For the purposes of this blog however, the specific finding that training improves dual-task performance for older adults more than it does for younger adults is not as important as two more general implications: people can perform multiple tasks simultaneously, and that ability can be improved with training.

In addition to helping answer two of the central questions being explored this blog, the literature review of this article referenced several studies and supplied names of many researchers who produce work relevant to this blog. Readers may also notice a shift in the terminology used to describe the performance of multiple tasks, especially the term "dual-task." According to this study, researchers use the term "dual-task" to describe performances in which either multitasking or task switching occur. Rather than use the vague, commonly misapplied term "multitasking," researchers use the terms "parallel" and "concurrent" to describe tasks that are performed simultaneously. In summary, this article yielded many starting points for future exploration.

Finally, it is important to note that a computer program was used to train the subjects of the study mentioned above to improve the parallel execution of concurrent tasks. Thus, it also helps answer another question explored by this blog: To what extent can technology-based training improve people's competency with task switching and multitasking? So far, the answer seems to be yes.

Questions for readers: So far, the author has gone through the trouble of writing these posts in third person with the goal of increasing their perceived objectivity and authoritativeness. Is that goal being achieved? Is the extra effort worth the cost of the goal? Perhaps Dr. Ferdig has an opinion.