No impact of instructions and feedback on task integration in motor learning

This study examined the effect of instructions and feedback on the integration of two tasks. Task-integration of covarying tasks are thought to help dual-task performance. With complete task integration of covarying dual tasks, a dual-task becomes more like a single task and dual-task costs should be reduced as it is no longer conceptualized as a dual task. We covaried a tracking task with an auditory go/no-go task and tried to manipulate the extent of task-integration by using two different sets of instructions and feedback. A group receiving task-integration promoting instructions and feedback (N = 18) and a group receiving task-separation instructions and feedback (N = 20) trained a continuous tracking task. The tracking task covaried with the auditory go/no-go reaction time task because high-pitch sounds always occurred 250 ms before turns, which has been demonstrated to foster task integration before. The tracking task further contained a repeating segment to investigate implicit learning. Results showed that neither instructions, feedback, nor participants’ conceptualization of performing a single task vs. a dual task significantly affected task-integration. However, the covariation manipulation improved performance in both the tracking and the go/no-go task, exceeding performance in non-covarying and single tasks. We conclude that task-integration between covarying motor tasks is a robust phenomenon that is not influenced by instructions or feedback.