Cognitive control and meta-control in dual-task coordination

Strobach, Tilo · 2023 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02427-7

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Summary

This theoretical review by Tilo Strobach addresses the mechanisms underlying dual-task coordination, specifically proposing a framework that distinguishes between active coordination processes and higher-level meta-control. The paper is motivated by the well-documented psychological refractory period (PRP) effect, where simultaneous task performance incurs costs due to capacity limitations, typically modeled as a central bottleneck in response selection. While existing theories explain these costs through structural bottlenecks or resource sharing, Strobach argues for a more nuanced view involving active scheduling of these limited processes and a distinct meta-cognitive level responsible for adjusting this coordination. The author structures the review around the Framework of Dual-Task Coordination Adjustment (DTCA), which categorizes cognitive processing into three levels: (a) component-task processes, (b) dual-task coordination (DTC) processes that schedule bottleneck access, and (c) coordination adjustment processes that modulate DTC. The paper synthesizes empirical evidence from dual-task practice literature and non-practice contexts to demonstrate the separability of these levels. Key methods discussed include overlapping task paradigms with variable stimulus-onset asynchronies, task-order switching tasks, and manipulations of working memory load. The review highlights studies comparing dual-task practice versus single-task practice, as well as experiments examining task-order representations and their reliance on working memory resources. The findings support the existence of active DTC processes distinct from component tasks. Evidence from dual-task practice shows that coordination skills improve with simultaneous practice but not single-task practice, and these skills transfer to new task combinations, indicating their independence from specific task content. The efficient task instantiation model is proposed to explain this, suggesting that practice allows for the simultaneous representation of task sets in working memory, reducing switch costs. Furthermore, studies on task-order regulation reveal that participants maintain task-order representations in working memory; these representations incur switch costs when the order changes and are impaired under high working memory load. This confirms that DTC processes are resource-dependent and hierarchically distinct from the component tasks themselves. The significance of this work lies in its proposal of a multi-level control architecture for dual-tasking. By empirically separating component-task processing from coordination and coordination adjustment, the DTCA framework advances the understanding of cognitive control beyond simple bottleneck models. It suggests that dual-task performance is not merely constrained by structural limitations but is actively managed by distinct cognitive mechanisms that can be optimized through practice and are sensitive to working memory capacity. This distinction provides a clearer theoretical basis for investigating how humans manage complex, simultaneous demands and offers a roadmap for future research into the neural and computational underpinnings of meta-control in multitasking.

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Topics

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• dual task multitasking
• dual task performance
• executive function
• capacity resource theory
• task switching