Neuroscience

Cognitive science

Mathematics

Cognitive flexibility

Statistics

Human multitasking

Adaptation (eye)

Cognition

Cognitive neuroscience

Cognitive psychology

Artificial intelligence

Management

Psychology

Economics

Control (management)

Computer science

Task (project management)

Flexibility (engineering)

Task switching

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Humans are remarkably limited in: (i) how many control-dependent tasks they can execute simultaneously, and (ii) how intensely they can focus on a single task. These limitations are universal assumptions of most theories of cognition. Yet, a rationale for why humans are subject to these constraints remains elusive. This feature review draws on recent insights from psychology, neuroscience, and machine learning, to suggest that constraints on cognitive control may result from a rational adaptation to fundamental, computational dilemmas in neural architectures. The reviewed literature implies that limitations in multitasking may result from a trade-off between learning efficacy and processing efficiency and that limitations in the intensity of commitment to a single task may reflect a trade-off between cognitive stability and flexibility.

Rationalizing constraints on the capacity for cognitive control