PWR-099 · Attention & Executive Control

Divided attention

You can practice coordinating two particular tasks. You cannot train away the cost of doing two things at once—and real safety never follows from a lab score.

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Revision 7T · Full Tutorial Edition · Release manifest · Methodology · Corrections

One source of teaching truth

Canonical Power learning unit · TLU-PWR-099

The learner produces separate single-task and dual-task speed/accuracy results for card sorting and tone counting, with dual-task cost correctly calculated for both.

Canonical Power page
PWR-099 · Divided attention
Full tutorial
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Practical authority
The tutorial teaches a low-risk method that may be practised inside its stated limits.
Current treatment
Full low-stakes tutorial
Research depth
focused · 3 bound sources
Risk framing
high
Capability self-practice
Permitted inside the tutorial's stated low-risk limits
Pathway membership
G-CUR-009

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Explanation is not permission.

This dossier explains the evidence and its limits. It is not a diagnosis, personal recommendation, assessment, clearance, performance promise or training programme. Actionable teaching appears only when the canonical Power record explicitly authorises it.

Complete bounded explanation

What this power means.

Capability to develop or express divided attention in a declared context without inheriting broader claims.

What the current evidence supports

People can improve coordination of two closely related low-risk tasks, but the gains are narrow and do not abolish multitasking costs.

How to observe or measure it without overclaiming

Dual-task cost must report each component’s accuracy and speed against its single-task baseline; one aggregate can hide sacrifice of the priority task.

Myth

Do two things with no cost

Metric

Each task’s speed and accuracy relative to its single-task baseline

Boundary

A smaller lab cost cannot certify safe simultaneous action in the real world.

Negative and limiting findings

  • Heterogeneous dual-task practice produced only limited advantages, and the large online brain-training study showed no transfer to untrained tasks.

Claims this evidence cannot support

  • Become a perfect multitasker
  • Train while driving
  • Double your mental bandwidth
  • A dual-task score certifies safe work

Individual tutorial · FULL SELF GUIDED TUTORIAL

How to learn this Power now.

The learner produces separate single-task and dual-task speed/accuracy results for card sorting and tone counting, with dual-task cost correctly calculated for both.

  1. Get readyRemove all safety-critical and real responsibilities; this is a desk exercise only.
  2. Learn the method8 concrete steps teach the permitted method from start to finish.
  3. See right and wrong5 comparisons show correct or safer execution beside common wrong or riskier choices.
  4. PractiseUse the identical harmless pairing for two short sessions per week for two weeks, no more than two paired trials per session. Re-measure single-task baselines at the start of each session. In week three, test a new neutral card set but keep rules/tone/priority fixed and label it near transfer.
  5. Check progressUse identical card and tone fixtures; calculate time cost as relative slowing and accuracy cost as percentage-point loss for each task, retaining raw results.

Authority boundary: Titan teaches a concrete low-stakes method step by step while keeping evidence and transfer claims bounded. The method is Power-specific; its actionability follows this treatment.

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Related Powers: PWR-097 · PWR-098 · PWR-100 · PWR-101

Direct evidence register

Sources that support—and limit—the claim.

Citation roles are explicit. A source may support existence or trainability while simultaneously limiting transfer, certainty, generalisation or safety.

  1. Primary empirical supportLimiting / contrary
    Training effects on dual-task performance: are there age-related differences in plasticity of attentional control?

    Louis Bherer; Arthur F Kramer; Matthew S Peterson; Stanley Colcombe; Kirk Erickson; Ensar Becic · 2005 · Primary research

  2. Primary empirical supportLimiting / contrary
    Putting brain training to the test

    Adrian M Owen; Adam Hampshire; Jessica A Grahn; Robert Stenton; Said Dajani; Alistair S Burns; Robert J Howard; Clive G Ballard · 2010 · Primary research

  3. Primary empirical supportLimiting / contrary
    Limited Benefits of Heterogeneous Dual-Task Training on Transfer Effects in Older Adults

    Maxime Lussier; Philippe Brouillard; Louis Bherer · 2017 · Primary research

Current teaching and evidence boundary

The next gate remains visible.

External confirmation is required before higher-authority use because: a clinical, high-risk or regulated configuration; a restricted safety or legitimacy boundary.

A Power-specific tutorial is available at /tutorials/pwr-099/. It contains a plain-English method, 8 ordered steps, a worked example, right-versus-wrong comparisons, specific mistakes and corrections, practice, measurement, accessibility, stopping rules and evidence. Its self guided mode remains controlling.