On the organization of task-order and task-specific information in dual-task situations

Dual-tasks (DT) require the employment of task-order representations that schedule the processing of 2 tasks. Evidence for this assumption stems from the observation that in DTs with variable order, performance is improved in trials with repeated processing order relative to the preceding trial in comparison to trials with reversed processing order. So far, it is an open question whether these order representations only contain order information or whether they also integrate component task information. To tackle this question, we applied a DT with variable task-order consisting of an auditory and a visual task. In Experiment 1, in addition to task-order, the visual task varied randomly from trial to trial while the auditory task kept constant. In Experiment 2, the auditory task varied. In Experiment 3, both component tasks varied. In all experiments, performance benefits occurred in trials with a repeated relative to trials with a reversed processing order, irrespective of a repeated or a changed component task. This indicates that order representations in DTs only contain order information. The findings are in line with the view that multitasking situations are represented as an agglomeration of distinct components that can be individually adjusted to changing task demands. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).