Multitasking boosts muscular endurance task performance due to elevated arousal level unattainable by the endurance task alone

Abstract

Multitasking is generally regarded as detrimental to performance. This deterioration effect is typically explained by the interference among tasks due to the limited capacity of information-processing resources, which in turn reduces the performance in each task. Contrary to this general view, we report evidence for a facilitation effect of multitasking on performance. This facilitation effect was observed in multitasking on a handgrip muscular endurance task and cognitive task, which are known to have little interference with each other. Specifically, we found that performance in the endurance task was facilitated with the difficulty of the concurrent cognitive task. This facilitation effect was mediated by additional pupil dilation due to the cognitive task. Increased effort with the difficulty of the cognitive task cannot explain the facilitated performance in the irrelevant endurance task. Instead, they suggest that the cognitive task elevated overall arousal to a level unattainable by the endurance task alone, which in turn facilitated performance in the irrelevant endurance task. To further test this arousal account, we manipulated participants motivation to the cognitive task by reward without changing its difficulty and found the same pattern of results. Thus, it is not effort or motivation specific to the cognitive task but rather overall arousal level that underlies the facilitation effect. These results unveiled a previously overlooked mechanism: a multitasking-induced arousal boost. Our findings suggest that multitasking can facilitate performance when the net effect of adding a concurrent task is governed less by the capacity limitation and more by the elevation of overall arousal.