Dual-tasking or concurrent multitasking

Dual-tasking or concurrent multitasking is the ability to coordinate the performance of two or more tasks at the same time. Dual-tasking can be considered in terms of divided attention, which supposes that there is a single general pool of attentional resource that can be allocated across a range of tasks being performed simultaneously. Each task receives some attentional capacity and, if all of that capacity is devoted to one task, it should result in dual-task costs. However, dual-tasking can also be considered in terms of a component of executive function, where as long as the two tasks do not compete for the same specific cognitive processes, the dual-task costs are relatively limited. This chapter reviews the contribution of cognitive psychology and neuroscience to our understanding of dual-task performance.