Development of multitasking abilities in middle childhood

Abstract

The development of multitasking abilities was investigated in relation to working memory capacity, sustained attention, inhibition, and task switching. Using a new touch-screen task, 90 children aged 7–10 years were asked to monitor several timers running at different paces, and to press a button whenever a timer had completed its cycle. Results showed that a significant part of the variance in children's multitasking performance was explained by age, and performance increased significantly until about 8–9 years. Multitasking performance was generally affected by the number of tasks, but even more so in younger children. Sustained attention explained a significant part of the variance in triple-, but not dual-task performance; visuospatial working memory capacity explained variance in dual- and triple-task performance, even after controlling for age. In conclusion, multitasking develops considerably in middle childhood and may involve different processes than dualtasking.