Cognitive Control & the Functional Organization of the Frontal Cortex

Summary

The goal of this basic experimental clinical trial is to understand the effect of multitasking practice on the structure of neural representations of tasks in the human lateral prefrontal cortex and control brain regions. The main question it aims to answer is: What changes in neural representational structure predict improvements in multitasking behavior due to multitasking practice? Healthy human participants will learn two independent tasks, each mapping a set of stimuli to motor responses based on different rules. Participants will be randomized to one of two interventions. Participants assigned to the multitask practice intervention (MPI) will practice multitasking the two tasks over multiple days. Those assigned to the single-task practice intervention (SPI) will instead practice each task separately while controlling for the total number of practice opportunities associated with each task across the interventions. Both before and after the practice, the ability of all participants to perform both tasks simultaneously will be behaviorally measured using a well-established psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, and their neural representations will be measured using functional MRI while they perform the two tasks. Researchers will then compare improvements in multitasking behavior across the two groups, as well as changes in neural representational geometry of the tasks in the lateral prefrontal cortex and control brain regions, and test whether multitasking training is associated with specific changes in neural representations in the lateral prefrontal cortex.

Conditions

• Multitasking Behavior and Neural Representations Associated With Multitasking Ability
• Healthy Volunteers
• Executive Function

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Multitask Practice Intervention (MPI)

Multitask practice intervention (MPI) includes multiple behavioral testing sessions during which participants receive practice with multitasking two tasks using the psychological refractory period procedure.

BEHAVIORAL

Single-task Practice Intervention (SPI)

Single task practice intervention (SPI) includes multiple behavioral testing sessions during which participants receive separate practice on two tasks.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Brown University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David Badre, PhD · Brown University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

35 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-03-27

Primary Completion

2026-07-31

Completion

2026-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations