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Citation |
Wechsler K, Drescher U, Janouch C, Haeger M, Voelcker-Rehage C, Bock O. Front. Psychol. 2018; 9: e910. |
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Affiliation |
Institute of Physiology and Anatomy, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2018, Frontiers Research Foundation) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
29962983 |
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PMCID |
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Abstract |
Human multitasking is typically studied by repeatedly presenting two tasks, either sequentially (task switch paradigms) or overlapping in time (dual-task paradigms). This is different from everyday life, which typically presents an ever-changing sequence of many different tasks. Realistic multitasking therefore requires an ongoing orchestration of task switching and dual-tasking. Here we investigate whether the age-related decay of multitasking, which has been documented with pure task-switch and pure dual-task paradigms, can also be quantified with a more realistic car driving paradigm. 63 young (20-30 years of age) and 61 older (65-75 years of age) participants were tested in an immersive driving simulator. They followed a car that occasionally slowed down and concurrently executed a mixed sequence of loading tasks that differed with respect to their sensory input modality, cognitive requirements and motor output channel. In two control conditions, the car-following or the loading task were administered alone. Older participants drove more slowly, more laterally and more variably than young ones, and this age difference was accentuated in the multitask-condition, particularly if the loading task took participants' gaze and attention away from the road. In the latter case, 78% of older drivers veered off the road and 15% drove across the median. The corresponding values for young drivers were 40% and 0%, respectively. Our findings indicate that multitasking deteriorates in older age not only in typical laboratory paradigms, but also in paradigms that require orchestration of dual-tasking and task switching. They also indicate that older drivers are at a higher risk of causing an accident when they engage in a task that takes gaze and attention away from the road. Language: en |
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Keywords |
aging; car driving; cognitive-motor interference; dual-tasking; ecological validity; multitasking; task switching; virtual reality |