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. 2015:2015:591475.
doi: 10.1155/2015/591475. Epub 2015 Apr 19.

Building a framework for a dual task taxonomy

Tara L McIsaac  1 , Eric M Lamberg  2 , Lisa M Muratori  2
Affiliations

Building a framework for a dual task taxonomy

Tara L McIsaac et al. Biomed Res Int. 2015.

Abstract

The study of dual task interference has gained increasing attention in the literature for the past 35 years, with six MEDLINE citations in 1979 growing to 351 citations indexed in 2014 and a peak of 454 cited papers in 2013. Increasingly, researchers are examining dual task cost in individuals with pathology, including those with neurodegenerative diseases. While the influence of these papers has extended from the laboratory to the clinic, the field has evolved without clear definitions of commonly used terms and with extreme variations in experimental procedures. As a result, it is difficult to examine the interference literature as a single body of work. In this paper we present a new taxonomy for classifying cognitive-motor and motor-motor interference within the study of dual task behaviors that connects traditional concepts of learning and principles of motor control with current issues of multitasking analysis. As a first step in the process we provide an operational definition of dual task, distinguishing it from a complex single task. We present this new taxonomy, inclusive of both cognitive and motor modalities, as a working model; one that we hope will generate discussion and create a framework from which one can view previous studies and develop questions of interest.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dual task taxonomy. A working model of the proposed taxonomy indicating a progression from single task to dual task analysis. This framework allows tasks to be categorized and level of difficulty to be ascertained so that direct comparisons can be made between dual task interventions in the literature and in practice. In addition, this taxonomy can assist in determining levels of task which might be appropriate for patient assessment and intervention.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Examples of tasks within the dual task taxonomy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schema for single task analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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