Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing

Mäntylä, Timo; Coni, Valentina; Kubik, Veit; Todorov, Ivo; Missier, Fabio Del

doi:10.1007/s10339-017-0799-4

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…As a direct support for this spatial offloading hypothesis, we have reported several studies (with Swedish and Italian participants) showing that spatial ability and executive functioning are independent predictors of multitasking performance, and that spatial ability predicts multitasking over and beyond executive functioning (Mäntylä, 2013;Mäntylä, Coni, Kubik, Todorov, & Del Missier, 2017;Todorov, Del Missier, & Mäntylä, 2014;Todorov, Del Missier, Konke, & Mäntylä, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 64%

“…handling objects on a workspace while completing additional spatial tasks). We recently reported a study (Mäntylä et al, 2017), in which participants completed a similar multitasking session, while making concurrent spatial judgments. We expected and found concurrent task costs, suggesting that possibilities for spatial offloading were reduced when the coordination of temporal deadlines was completed under concurrent spatial task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the findings of this study are consistent with our spatial offloading hypothesis of multitasking, certain limitations should be acknowledged. First, a central assumption of our framework, which we have emphasised in earlier work (Mäntylä et al, 2017;Mäntylä & Todorov, 2013;Todorov et al, 2015), is that expertise and executive control functioning are the primary sources for individual differences in multitasking. Experts are better than nonexperts in handling multiple tasks (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial offloading in multiple task monitoring

Todorov

Kubik

Carelli

et al. 2018

Journal of Cognitive Psychology

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Coordinating multiple tasks requires a high degree of cognitive control, and individuals with limited executive functions often show difficulties in everyday multitasking. We tested the hypothesis that demands on executive control can be alleviated by internally representing the temporal pattern of goals and deadlines as spatial relations. In two experiments, participants completed a multitasking session by monitoring deadlines of four clocks running at different rates, along with separate tasks of executive functioning and spatial ability. In Experiment 1, individual and gender-related differences in spatial ability (mental rotation) predicted multitasking performance, beyond the contributions of both the updating and inhibition components of executive functioning, and even when spatial cues were eliminated from the layout of the monitoring task. Experiment 2 extended these findings by showing that concurrent spatial load impaired task monitoring accuracy, and that these detrimental effects were accentuated when spatial abilities were compromized due to fluctuation in female sex hormones. These findings suggest that multiple task monitoring involves working memory-related functions, but that these cognitive control demands can be offloaded by relying on spatial relation processes.

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mentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial offloading in multiple task monitoring

Todorov

Kubik

Carelli

et al. 2018

Journal of Cognitive Psychology

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“…Indeed, we propose, as in Norman and Shallice's (1986) supervisory attentional system, that learned spatial schemas (or schemata, in Norman and Shallice's theory) enable people to be less dependent on attentional resources. Recent results by Mäntylä and colleagues (e.g., Mäntylä, 2013;Mäntylä, Coni, Kubik, Todorov, & Del Missier, 2017;Todorov, Del Missier, Konke, & Mäntylä, 2015;Todorov, Kubik, Carelli, Del Missier, & Mäntylä, 2018) seem compatible with this idea. They showed that spatial abilities contribute to multitasking, and that when spatial coding was impeded, multitasking performance dropped.…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 78%

Explaining the SPoARC and SNARC effects with knowledge structures: An expertise account

Guida¹,

Campitelli

2019

Psychon Bull Rev

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Two proposals have been put forward to account conjointly for the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect and the spatial-positional association of response codes (SPoARC) effect: the working memory account and the dual account. Here, on the basis of experimental and theoretical knowledge acquired in the field of expert memory, we propose an alternative accountnamed the expertise account-that explains both effects through the acquisition and use of knowledge structures (a generalization of Bchunks,^Bretrieval structures,^and Btemplates^), which have been used extensively in expert memory theory. These knowledge structures can be of two types: nonslotted or slotted schemas. We suggest that the SNARC effect can be explained via the use of nonslotted schemas, and the SPoARC effect via slotted schemas. We conclude our article by presenting the broader implications of our framework for working memory in general, when considering knowledge structures.

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“…This idea resonates with similar views of "time-to-space mappings" in other domains of cognitive sciences, which suggest that temporal and spatial processing are closely related (e.g., Gijssels, Bottini, Rueschemeyer, & Casasanto, 2013;Núñez & Cooperrider, 2013;Bonato, Zorzi, & Umiltà, 2012;Dehaene & Brannon, 2011). This "spatial offloading hypothesis" is supported by several studies showing that spatial ability (i.e., mental rotation) and executive functioning (i.e., working memory updating) are independent predictors of multitasking performance and that spatial ability predicts multitasking over and beyond executive functioning (Todorov, Kubik, Carelli, Del Missier, & Mäntylä, 2018;Mäntylä, Coni, Kubik, Todorov, & Del Missier, 2017;Todorov, Del Missier, & Mäntylä, 2014;Mäntylä, 2013;Morgan et al, 2013;Logie et al, 2011). Moreover, it was shown that multitasking, compared with dual tasking, involves an incremental contribution of spatial ability (Kubik, Zimmermann, Del Missier, Frick, & Mäntylä, 2018, 2019 and that concurrent spatial load selectively impairs multitasking performance (Todorov et al, 2018;Mäntylä et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Monitoring Multiple Deadlines Relies on Spatial Processing in Posterior Parietal Cortex

Zimmermann

Kubik

Persson

et al. 2019

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Proactively coordinating one's actions is an important aspect of multitasking performance due to overlapping task sequences. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate neural mechanisms underlying monitoring of multiple overlapping task sequences. We tested the hypothesis that temporal control demands in multiple-task monitoring are offloaded onto spatial processes by representing patterns of temporal deadlines in spatial terms. Results showed that increased demands on time monitoring (i.e., responding to concurrent deadlines of one to four component tasks) increasingly activated regions in the left inferior parietal lobe and the precuneus. Moreover, independent measures of spatial abilities correlated with multiple-task performance beyond the contribution of working memory. Together, these findings suggest that monitoring and coordination of temporally overlapping task timelines rely on cortical processes involved in spatial information processing. We suggest that the precuneus is involved in tracking of multiple task timelines, whereas the inferior parietal lobe constructs spatial representations of the temporal relations of these overlapping timelines. These findings are consistent with the spatial offloading hypothesis and add new insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the coordination of multiple tasks.

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Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing

Cited by 9 publications

References 38 publications

Spatial offloading in multiple task monitoring

Spatial offloading in multiple task monitoring

Explaining the SPoARC and SNARC effects with knowledge structures: An expertise account

Monitoring Multiple Deadlines Relies on Spatial Processing in Posterior Parietal Cortex

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