Cooperative Mechanism Of Multi-task Cognitive Processing

A central aim in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience research on multitasking is to understand and optimize the underlying processes in order to increase efficiency when dealing with multiple tasks at the same time.There is often a cost to simultaneous performance of multiple tasks as compared to doing only one task at a time.Discovering the source of this interference has been one of the main goals of multitasking research.We have previously shown that behavioral interference between tasks indeed depends on their overlap in resource requirements — the higher the overlap in resource use,the more multitasking interference.In order to demonstrate the influence of resource overlap on multitask processing interference,the resource conditions of multitask collaborative processing are further explored.In Study 1,three tasks with different resource requirements were used,vm(visual manual)tasks,tone-counting tasks,and 2-back tasks.These three tasks need to be performed individually or in pairs in the experiment.When 2-back is combined with vm,there is overlap in visual resources.When 2-back is combined with tone-counting,there is overlap in memory resources.When vm is combined with tone-counting,there is no apparent overlap.The result shows that the largest overall performance loss was in the 2-back & tone-counting conditions,followed by 2-back & tracking.Hardly any performance difference is seen in the vm & tone-counting condition.In the context of performance optimizations in multitasking,a central debate has unfolded in multitasking research around whether cognitive processes related to different tasks proceed only operate in parallel(simultaneously),or can sequentially(one at a time).However,parallel and serial processing of multiple tasks are not mutually exclusive.The shifting between more parallel and more serial task processing critically depends on the conditions under which multiple tasks are performed.On the basis of Study 1,Study 2 and Study 3 explored how to change the multi-task from parallel processing to sequential processing under the condition of inter-task resource conflict,in order to optimize the multi-task performance and achieve the effect of collaborative processing.In order to study the effect of the interval time(SOA)on multi-task cooperative processing,a control experiment was conducted on 2-back and tone-counting.A total of 94 subjects were randomly divided into three experimental groups.The interleaving group,the subjects interleaved with the 2-back and tone-counting tasks;the successively group,the subjects performed the 2-back task and then performed the tone-counting task;the simultaneously group,the subjects performed 2-back and tone-counting tasks at the same time.The results show that the accuracy of 2-back and tone-counting in the interlaced group is the highest and the reaction time is the shortest.It proves that the interleaved processing can avoid the conflict of simultaneous processing and realize the transformation of multi-task from parallel processing to sequential processing to promote multi-task collaborative processing.In order to study the influence of priority processing strategies on multi-task collaborative processing,a control experiment was conducted on three pairs of 2-back tasks and tone-counting tasks.A total of 96 subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: priority processing tone-counting task group,giving guides who mainly perform tone-counting tasks;prioritizing processing of 2-back task groups,giving guides who mainly perform 2-back tasks;the simultaneously group,the subjects performed 2-back and tone-counting tasks at the same time.The results show that the performance of tone-counting of the priority of processing tonecounting task groups is significantly higher than that of the simultaneous processing task group and the priority processing 2-back task group;The accuracy of 2-back of the priority of processing the 2-back task group is the highest.The response time is the shortest,proving that the priority processing strategy can avoid the conflict of simultaneous processing and realize the transformation of multi-task from parallel processing to sequential processing to promote multi-task collaborative processing.In this study,we found that the first condition to realize multi-task collaborative processing is that the resources used among tasks are not conflicting,and the efficiency of multi-task processing can be improved by parallel processing.Secondly,when the resources used in multi-task conflicts are conflicted,The goal of cooperative machining can be achieved by adjusting the interval between tasks or adopting the strategy of priority processing to realize the transition from parallel processing to sequential processing.