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Investigation on the improvement and transfer of dual-task coordination skills

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Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that dual-task performance in situations with two simultaneously presented tasks can be substantially improved with extensive practice. This improvement was related to the acquisition of task coordination skills. Earlier studies provided evidence that these skills result from hybrid practice, including dual and single tasks, but not from single-task practice. It is an open question, however, whether task coordination skills are independent from the specific practice situation and are transferable to new situations or whether they are non-transferable and task-specific. The present study, therefore, tested skill transfer in (1) a dual-task situation with identical tasks in practice and transfer, (2) a dual-task situation with two tasks changed from practice to transfer, and (3) a task switching situation with two sequentially presented tasks. Our findings are largely consistent with the assumption that task coordination skills are non-transferable and task-specific. We cannot, however, definitively reject the assumption of transferable skills when measuring error rates in the dual-task situation with two changed tasks after practice. In the task switching situation, single-task and hybrid practice both led to a transfer effect on mixing costs.

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Notes

  1. In fact, dual-task RT costs in practice Session 8 of the study of Tombu and Jolicoeur (2004); visual task: 26 ms; auditory task: 40 ms) were very similar to the present costs (visual task: 27 ms; auditory task: 41 ms). These findings show possible boundary conditions to obtain perfect dual-task performance in this paradigm. The finding of residual dual-task costs in the present study might be due to the use of separate deadlines for dual-task and single-task conditions taken as the basis of the financial payoff matrix. This procedure might maintain strong motivation for both single-task trials and dual-task trials until the end of practice (Tombu & Jolicoeur, 2004). In contrast, Schumacher et al. (2001) exclusively used the performance deadline of the single-task trials presented during the mixed blocks to award financial payoff in both single-task and dual-task trials during practice (see also Hazeltine et al., 2002). The Schumacher procedure might increase effects of mobilized effort in dual-task trials as compared to single-task trials. As a result of this, one should find a greater reduction of RTs in dual tasks than in single tasks during practice. This difference in deadline procedures between studies might explain the finding of non-significant dual-task costs in the study of Schumacher and colleagues in contrast to the small residual dual-task costs we found at the end of practice.

  2. Across both the hybrid and the single-task transfer groups, the reason for the increase in visual and auditory dual-task RT costs from pre- to post-test may be related to the particular way in which we changed the stimulus and the mapping information in both tasks during transfer. In fact, the change from a position mapping to a size mapping in the visual task and from a compatible to an incompatible mapping in the auditory task resulted in a reduced degree of compatibility between tasks’ stimuli and responses (Kornblum, Hasbroucq, & Osman, 1990) that may impose increased cognitive demands on operations of task coordination (Ruthruff et al., 2006). This increase may result in additional performance costs mainly in dual-task situations and therefore may explain the observation of increased dual-task RT costs.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant of the German Research Foundation to T.S. (last author) and to P.F. as well as by a grant of CoTeSys (No. 439) to T.S. (last author). It is part of the dissertation of T.S. (first author) supervised by T.S. (last author). Thanks to Harold Pashler and Thomas Kleinsorge for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tilo Strobach, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Department Psychology, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802 Munich, Germany. Electronic mail may be sent to tilo.strobach@psy.lmu.de.

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  1. Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany

    Tilo Strobach, Alexander Soutschek & Torsten Schubert

  2. Humboldt-University, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Tilo Strobach, Peter A. Frensch & Torsten Schubert

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  1. Tilo Strobach
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Correspondence to Tilo Strobach.

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Strobach, T., Frensch, P.A., Soutschek, A. et al. Investigation on the improvement and transfer of dual-task coordination skills. Psychological Research 76, 794–811 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-011-0381-0

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