Strategy application disorder: the role of the frontal lobes in human multitasking
Abstract
Strategy application disorder is a term used to describe a pattern of deficits, usually associated with frontal lobe dysfunction, where people show disorganisation, absentmindedness and problems with planning and decision making in everyday life despite normal performance on traditional neuropsychological tests. It is argued that the prototypical situation which presents problems for these cases are those which require multitasking, and although good cases are rare in the literature, those that do exist show a characteristic neuropsychological pattern. Moreover, this pattern is confirmed in recent group studies of multitasking and of the relationship between multitasking tests (such as the Six Element Test), failures in everyday life and other neuropsychological measures. At present the evidence suggests that the potential frontal brain regions most implicated in multitasking are the anterior cingulate; B.A. 10 and immediately adjacent areas; and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with each making a unique contribution to different aspects of performance. Furthermore, recent studies show striking dissociations between performances on multitasking tests and two of the most commonly administered measures of executive function: the verbal fluency test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, which sets a minimum level for a fractionation of the executive syndrome in humans.
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Patients with damage to rostral prefrontal cortex show disorganization in everyday life.
“patients with damage to this region show disorganization in everyday life (Burgess, 2000; Uretzky & Gilboa, 2010)”
From Strategic offloading of delayed intentions into the external environment (2015) · cites this paper as Burgess, 2000
Rostral prefrontal cortex appears to play a prominent role in prospective memory in everyday life as well as in remembering intentions for just a few seconds.
“For example, rostral prefrontal cortex appears to play a prominent role in prospective memory in everyday life (Burgess, 2000; Uretzky & Gilboa, 2010) as well as remembering intentions for just a few seconds (Gilbert, 2011), whereas more posterior frontal regions respond more strongly to standard working memory tasks (Reynolds, West, & Braver, 2009).”
From Strategic offloading of delayed intentions into the external environment (2015) · cites this paper as Burgess, 2000
Multitasking has been shown to be impaired in patients with acquired frontal lobe damage (particularly rostral prefrontal cortex), even when executive function deficit is small or undetectable using traditional neuropsychological tests.
“For example, multitasking (which requires considerable numbers of executive functions) has been shown to be impaired in patients who have acquired frontal lobe damage (particularly to rostral prefrontal cortex), even when an executive function deficit is small or indeed undetectable using traditional neuropsychological tests such as theWisconsin Card Sorting test and verbal fluency (e.g. Burgess,”
From Executive processes in Asperger syndrome: Patterns of performance in a multiple case series (2006) · cites this paper as Burgess, 2000
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- Authors
- Burgess, P. W.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Burgess, Paul W.
- ORCID
- Burgess, Paul W.
- Venue
- Psychological Research
- Published
- 2000-08-18
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 279-288
- ISSN
- 0033-3026 (ISSN-L)
- 0340-0727
- 1430-2772
- OpenAlex
- W2098833848
- Cited by
- 368
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 2.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychological Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- LG Display
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical and Modern Theater Studies
- Keywords
- frontal lobe dysfunction, multitasking, executive function, anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, planning and decision-making, verbal fluency, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Dementia, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Neuropsychological Tests, Problem Solving
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