When boosting preparation sets older adults free from central bottlenecking: Evidence for dual-task automaticity

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience of Aging

Background:

• Younger adults can process two tasks in parallel, bypassing the central attentional bottleneck.
• Older adults typically exhibit a central bottleneck, hindering dual-task performance, even with simple tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if older adults' inability to bypass the central bottleneck is a strategic compensation for cognitive deficits.
• To determine if modifying attentional preparation can enable dual-task automaticity in older adults.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the psychological refractory period (PRP) procedure to measure dual-task interference.
• Experiment 1 replicated typical findings of a central bottleneck in older adults.
• Experiment 2 manipulated preparation by intermixing single-task trials to encourage balanced processing.

Main Results:

• Older adults showed significant dual-task interference (353 ms) in Experiment 1, indicating a central bottleneck.
• In Experiment 2, rebalancing preparation led to parallel processing in most older adults (20/24).
• Dual-task interference was significantly reduced (85 ms) in Experiment 2, consistent with bottleneck bypassing.

Conclusions:

• The central bottleneck in older adults during dual-task performance is strategic and linked to preparation.
• Older adults can achieve dual-task automaticity by modifying their preparatory state to balance attention between tasks.