Research Area - Motor Control and Cognition

Another project (“Human performance under multiple cognitive task requirements: From basic mechanisms to optimized task scheduling”; DFG Priority Program SPP1772) is dealing with multitasking. A central issue in our studies is the effect of a long-term motor-cognitive dual-task training on the trained task and on resulting single-task performance. Additionally, we are focusing on transfer effects to unpracticed tasks in a specially developed test battery. In order to evaluate existing explanatory models, we are using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to test whether the following kinds of performance increments lead to changes in frontopolar brain-activation signals: (a) reduction of processing demands of at least one of the tasks involved, (b) smart integration of separate information processing streams, and (c) increased quantity of processing resources. Finally, we are aiming to define practice conditions that are capable of inducing the desired effects on motor and/or cognitive performance.