The cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of multitasking
Abstract
Patients who show the "strategy application disorder" can show deficits restricted to situations requiring multitasking, but the precise neuroanatomical and cognitive correlates of this problem have been rarely investigated. In this study, 60 people with circumscribed cerebral lesions and 60 age- and IQ-matched controls were given a multitasking procedure which allowed consideration of the relative contributions of task learning and remembering, planning, plan-following and remembering one's actions to multitasking performance. Lesions to the left posterior cingulate and forceps major regions gave deficits on all measures except planning. Remembering task contingencies after a delay was also affected by lesions in the region of the left anterior cingulate, and rule-breaking and failures of task switching were additionally found in people with lesions affecting the medial and more polar aspects of Brodmann's areas 8, 9 and especially 10. Planning deficits were associated with lesions to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (RDLPFC). A theory of the relationships between the cognitive constructs underpinning multitasking was tested using structural equation modelling. The results suggest that there are three primary constructs that support multitasking: retrospective memory, prospective memory, and planning, with the second two drawing upon the products of the first. It is tentatively suggested that the left anterior and posterior cingulates together play some part in the r…
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Human group lesion studies of lab-based multitasking tests, the SET and the Greenwich Test, have shown that relatively circumscribed multitasking deficits follow rostral PFC lesions.
“This was carried out by human group lesion studies of lab-based multitasking tests (the SET and the Greenwich Test) which have shown that relatively circumscribed multitasking deficits follow rostral PFC lesions (Burgess et al., 2000; Burgess et al., submitted: described in Burgess et al., 2005b).”
From The case for the development and use of ecologically valid measures of executive function in experimental and clinical neuropsychology (2006) · cites this paper as Burgess et al., 2000
Prospective memory is associated with frontal lobe activity and has been shown to develop through childhood.
“Prospective memory is associated with frontal lobe activity (Burgess, Veitch, Costello, & Shallice, 2000) and has been shown to develop through childhood as we develop our future-oriented thought and action (Ellis & Kvavilashvili, 2000).”
From Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition (2006) · cites this paper as Burgess, Veitch, Costello, & Shallice, 2000
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- Authors
- Burgess, P. W., Veitch, E., de Lacy Costello, A., & Shallice, T.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Burgess, Paul W
- ORCID
- Burgess, Paul W
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 848-863
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2013683637
- Cited by
- 708
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 24.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- SDL (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- multitasking, posterior cingulate cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, forceps major, Brodmann area 10, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, planning, prospective memory, retrospective memory, task switching, rule violations, task learning, brain lesions, cognitive architecture
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory Disorders, Middle Aged, Tomography, X-Ray Computed
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