Multitasking Practice Eliminates Modality-Based Interference by Separating Task Representations in Sensory Brain Regions.

The debate on the neural basis of multitasking costs evolves around neural overlap between concurrently performed tasks. Recent evidence suggests that training-related reductions in representational overlap in fronto-parietal brain regions predict multitasking improvements. Cognitive theories assume that overlap of task representations may lead to unintended information exchange between tasks (i.e., crosstalk). Modality-based crosstalk was suggested as a source for multitasking costs in multisensory settings. Robust findings of increased costs for certain modality mappings may be explained by crosstalk between the stimulus modality in one task and sensory action consequences in the concurrently performed task. Whether modality-based crosstalk emerges from representational overlap in general fronto-parietal multitasking regions or modality-specific regions is not known yet. In this functional neuroimaging study, we investigate neural overlap during multitasking performance in humans, focusing on modality compatibility by employing multivariate pattern analysis and modality-specific practice interventions in three groups (total N = 54, 24 females). We observed significant differences between modality compatible and modality incompatible single-task representations, specifically in the auditory cortex but not in fronto-parietal regions. Notably, improved auditory decoding accuracy related to modality incompatible tasks was predictive of performance gains in the corresponding dual task along with complete elimination of modality-specific dual-task costs. This predictive relationship was evident only in the group practicing modality incompatible mappings, suggesting that specific practice on task sets with modality overlap influenced both neural representations and subsequent multitasking performance. This study contributes to the integration of cognitive theory and neuroscience and the role of task representations in dual-task interference.