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Human multitasking suffers from a central attentional bottleneck preventing parallel performance of central mental operations, leading to profound deferments in task performance. While previous research assumed that the deferment is caused by a mere waiting time (refractory period), we show that the bottleneck requires executive functions (EF; active scheduling account) accounting for a profound part of the deferment. Three participant groups with EF impairments (dyslexics, highly neurotics, deprived smokers) showed worse multitasking performance than respective control groups. Three further groups with EF improvements (videogamers, bilinguals, coffee consumers) showed improved multitasking. Finally, three groups performed a dual-task and different measures of EF (reading span, rotation span, symmetry span) and showed significant correlations between multitasking performance and working memory capacity. Demands on EF during multitasking may cause more errors, mental fatigue and stress, ....

Eteläuomen Läi , United States , United Kingdom , City Of , Luwam Simon , Macsweeney Mahon , Kai Tyler , Mark Buckley , Rahmi Saylik , Barry Smith , Ayan Omar , Van Leeuwen , Jessica Boyce , Jn Towse Oxford , Kirti Kumar , Nargis Ghani , Department Of Life Sciences Ethics , Bial Foundation , Brunel University London , Oxford University Press , Department Of Life Sciences Ethics Committee , Oxford University , British Academy , Attention Network Test Bruny , Psychological Refractory Period , Supplementary Figure ,