Disturbance of Information in Superior Parietal Lobe during Dual-task Interference in a Simulated Driving Task

Abbaszadeh, Mojtaba; Gholam‐Ali Hossein‐Zadeh; Shima Seyed‐Allaei; Vaziri-Pashkam, Maryam · 2020 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1101/2020.07.28.224394

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Summary

This study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying dual-task interference in a simulated driving context, specifically addressing whether performance declines are driven by general cognitive load or by specific disruptions in task-relevant information processing. Previous fMRI studies using univariate methods could not distinguish between general effects (e.g., attention, effort) and condition-specific changes in neural representations. To resolve this, the authors employed multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to track information content in specific brain regions during a dual-task paradigm. Participants (n=20) performed a lane-change driving task concurrently with a tone-discrimination task in a simulated environment. The experiment manipulated the Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) between the two tasks, using short (100 ms) and long (600 ms) intervals. Behavioral results confirmed robust dual-task interference: driving reaction times were significantly slower, and accuracy lower, in the short SOA condition compared to the long SOA condition. The tone task also showed reduced accuracy under short SOA, though reaction times remained unchanged. Using surface-based MVPA, the researchers identified regions encoding driving direction (left/right lane change). Significant above-chance decoding accuracy was found in bilateral early visual cortex, right motor cortex, and the right superior parietal lobe (SPL). Critically, while decoding accuracy in visual and motor regions remained stable across SOA conditions, accuracy in the right SPL was significantly lower in the short SOA condition than in the long SOA condition. Specifically, driving direction information was above chance only in the long SOA condition (time bins 3 and 4), whereas it did not exceed chance in the short SOA condition. Furthermore, classification accuracy in the SPL was inversely correlated with individual participants’ driving reaction times. These findings suggest that dual-task interference in driving is not merely a result of general resource depletion but involves a specific disturbance of task-relevant information in the superior parietal lobe. The SPL, which integrates spatial and motor planning information, appears to be particularly vulnerable to interference when tasks are presented in close temporal proximity. This work advances the understanding of dual-task interference by linking behavioral deficits to a measurable reduction in neural information fidelity in a key parietal region, offering a more precise neural correlate than previous univariate BOLD modulation studies.

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Topics

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• dual task performance
• dual task multitasking
• temporal
• attention allocation
• manual
• visual manual

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data