Age-Related Differences in Multiple Task Monitoring

Todorov, Ivo; Missier, Fabio Del; Mäntylä, Timo

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0107619

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Counter accuracy correlated significantly with MRT, providing additional support for the hypothesis that multitasking performance is related to individual differences in spatial ability. The correlation data also showed that letter memory scores were positively related to multitasking performance but not to MRT, possibly due to the verbal nature of the updating task (cf., Salway & Logie, 1995;Todorov et al, 2014). A regression analysis showed that both MRT (Beta = .26, p < .01) and letter memory (Beta = .24, p < .01), were significant predictors of counter accuracy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Sample size was determined on the basis of our previous studies with similar tasks (Mäntylä, 2013;Todorov et al, 2014). A large majority of the participants were University of Trieste undergraduates, and the remaining participants were young adults with a similar level of education and socio-economic status as the student sample.…”

Section: Study 1 Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a support for this line of reasoning, Mäntylä (2013; see also Todorov et al, 2014) reported a study in which individuals with varying spatial abilities completed a multitasking session with four monitoring tasks and separate tasks of executive functioning and spatial ability. Individual differences in executive functioning (working memory updating) and spatial ability (mental rotation) were shown to be independent predictors of multiple-task monitoring, but only spatial ability was related to sex differences in multitasking.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A core feature of multitasking is the requirement for temporal integration and monitoring of overlapping action sequences within limited time frames. How people allocate limited cognitive resources to multiple concurrent tasks is a topic of considerable theoretical and practical interest (e.g., Burgess, Veitch, de Lacy Costello & Shallice, 2000;Fuster, 1993;Logie, Trawley & Law, 2011;Mäntylä, 2013;Meyer & Kieras, 1997;Navon & Gopher, 1979;Norman & Bobrow, 1975;Salvucci & Taatgen, 2008;Todorov, Del Missier & Mäntylä, 2014;Wickens, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…We have recently suggested (Mäntylä, 2013;Mäntylä & Todorov, 2013;Todorov et al, 2014) that multiple-task performance reflects individual differences in two fundamental aspects of cognitive functioning, namely, executive control and spatial ability. In this framework, and consistent with earlier work, variability in prefrontally mediated executive functions is considered as the primary source of individual differences in multitasking (Logie et al, 2011;Meyer & Kieras, 1997;Salvucci & Taatgen, 2008;Shallice & Burgess, 1991;Watson & Strayer, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Deadlines in space: Selective effects of coordinate spatial processing in multitasking

et al. 2015

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Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of multiple deadlines. One way to handle these temporal demands might be to represent future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We examined the hypothesis that spatial ability, in addition to executive functioning, contributes to individual differences in multitasking. In two studies, participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four digital clocks running at different rates. In Study 1, we found that individual differences in spatial ability and executive functions were independent predictors of multiple-task performance. In Study 2, we found that individual differences in specific spatial abilities were selectively related to multiple-task performance, as only coordinate spatial processing, but not categorical, predicted multitasking, even beyond executive functioning and numeracy. In both studies, males outperformed females in spatial ability and multitasking and in Study 2 these sex differences generalized to a simulation of everyday multitasking. Menstrual changes moderated the effects on multitasking, in that sex differences in coordinate spatial processing and multitasking were observed between males and females in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, but not between males and females at menses. Overall, these findings suggest that multiple-task performance reflects independent contributions of spatial ability and executive functioning. Furthermore, our results support the distinction of categorical versus coordinate spatial processing, and suggest that these two basic relational processes are selectively affected by female sex hormones and differentially effective in transforming and handling temporal patterns as spatial relations in the context of multitasking.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Study 1 Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%