Asymmetric interference between cognitive task components and concurrent sensorimotor coordination

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Baker, J. ORCID: 0000-0001-8133-7622, Castro, A., Dunn, A.K. ORCID: 0000-0003-3226-1734 and Mitra, S. ORCID: 0000-0001-7620-4809, 2018. Asymmetric interference between cognitive task components and concurrent sensorimotor coordination. Journal of Neurophysiology, 120 (1), pp. 330-342. ISSN 0022-3077

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00073.2018

Abstract

Everyday cognitive tasks are frequently performed under dual-task conditions alongside continuous sensorimotor coordinations (CSC) such as driving, walking, or balancing. Observed interference in these dual-task settings is commonly attributed to demands on executive function or attentional resources, but the time-course and reciprocity of interference are not well understood at the level of information-processing components. Here, we used electrophysiology to study the detailed chronometry of dual-task interference between a visual oddball task and a continuous visuomanual tracking task. The oddball task's electrophysiological components were linked to underlying cognitive processes, and the tracking task served as a proxy for the continuous cycle of state-monitoring and adjustment inherent to CSCs. Dual-tasking interfered with the oddball task's accuracy and attentional processes (attenuated P2 and P3b magnitude, and parietal alpha-band ERD), but errors in tracking due to dual-tasking accrued at a later time-scale, and only in trials in which the target stimulus appeared and its tally had to be incremented. Interference between cognitive tasks and CSCs can be asymmetric in terms of timing as well as affected information-processing components.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Journal of Neurophysiology

Creators:

Baker, J., Castro, A., Dunn, A.K. and Mitra, S.

Publisher:

American Physiological Society

Date:

July 2018

Volume:

120