Age differences in dual-task performance: Procedures, assumptions, and results☆

Abstract The secondary task paradigm requires subjects to perform a primary task of interest concurrently with an attention-demanding secondary task. In recent years, an increasing number of developmental studies have utilized the paradigm to test for age differences in the mental resource requirements of various cognitive tasks. The present paper reviews the findings from the developmental secondary-task research and discuss the various assumptions which underlie the use of the secondary-task paradigm to test for age differences in resource demands. The results reviewed suggest that there are age-related differences during childhood in the amount of cognitive resources required to perform a variety of cognitive tasks and to execute a variety of cognitive operations. However, many of the methodological and theoretical assumptions upon which these conclusions are based are open to challenge. It is concluded that, in the future, researchers using secondary-task procedures should make more of an attempt to validate their conclusions through the use of convergent operations.

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