<p>I have to partly disagree with schultem here-- he is right that the dual task paradigm is used to study multitasking, but the idea that we can truly do two cognitive tasks at the same time is still contentious. In particular, the opposing view might say that we can't really do two cognitive processes at the same time, but we are in fact switching between the two tasks very rapidly. To make a an analogy, consider a computer with a single-core CPU: although behaviorally it seems like you are running multiple processes at the same time, all applications still depend on a single bottleneck.</p>

<p>One of the most well studied experimental paradigms for this domain is called the '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_refractory_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">psychological refractory period</a>', or PRP effect, which shows over <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22psychological%20refractory%20period%22&amp;btnG=&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0,44" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2,700 hits on google scholar</a>.</p>

<p>A typical PRP task has the subject perform two reaction time tasks. For instance, he may have to hit a button with his right hand in response to a high pitched tone, and hit a button with his left hand in response to a low pitched tone. At the same time, he performs another concurrent task-- e.g., saying "blue" in response to a blue stimulus, and "green" in response to a green stimulus. By altering the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) (that is, the time from the start of the tone to the start of the visual stimuli), we can examine what operations people are able to perform in parallel.</p>

<p>Each task can be broken down into three components: perceptual analysis, response selection (cognitive), and response processing. A prominent theory emerging from the results of many PRP tasks is that we are able to truly do two operations in parallel if they require different modes: for instance, we can do perceptual analysis of a visual stimuli and auditory tone at the same time, and we can make a manual and vocal response at the same time, however we cannot do two response selections at the same time because they essentially require the same cognitive resources (single bottleneck).</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bnImu.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>This image from wikipedia describes what I'm talking about. The response selection from the second task must wait for the response selection from the first task to finish before it begins. The result is that, at short SOA, the total time taken to respond to both stimuli is the same-- as long as perceptual analysis of the second task ends before the response selection from the first task.</p>

<p>So in sum, yes, it might be possible to do the two tasks you are talking about in parallel, especially with practice. But on a more fundamental level, you may really just be doing very rapid multitasking. If you're interested in this theory, you may also want to read about <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;q=threaded%20cognition&amp;btnG=&amp;as_sdt=1,44&amp;as_sdtp=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">threaded cognition</a>, which demonstrates this effect for complex tasks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-07T21:29:58.913Z
Thanks for your response. Here is a paper that shows within a PRP paradigm that indeed parallel and serial processes exist. While I am not an expert in this area, this seems to be some interesting evidence for both processes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18650336
schultem
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-07T21:36:10.330Z
yes, that seems in line with my view. here's another good modeling paper that espouses the same view: [Byrne & Anderson (2001)](http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2001-18918-010)
Jeff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-12T01:24:33.150Z
there really aren't "left brain" and "right brain" tasks though. split-brain patients don't reflect typical brain functioning.
Jeff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-04T06:00:15.493Z
Very much like this answer. Much more nuanced than the accepted answer!
Robin Kramer-ten Have
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-26T15:53:30.500Z
Yeah, there might be some kind of central executive performing task switching and governing process access to resources in the background, like the kernel and cpu. I have a feeling multi-tasking is largely up to different senses in thought. (could still be context switching) I have aphantasia, and as a result have an extremely hard time doing dual N back. Matching the audio portion is no problem, but keeping track of the cell position in the grid is nearly impossible. (need to translate it to the phonological loop) I imagine most people can have visual and narrative thoughts run at once.
ZeroPhase
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-06T21:39:14.110Z
2012-10-06T21:39:14.110Z
Jeff
<p>Parallel processes are often studied in a so called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-task_paradigm">'dual task' paradigm</a>, where participants are drawing a picture and reciting a poem or, as in your example, counting and thinking about other things. 
Often this method is used to demonstrate limits in attention and find insights into how the brain works (in a serial versus parallel manner). Training is an important factor in this question. It has been shown that with a sufficient amount of training a lot of tasks can be done parallel very well - so if you sit there long enough and automize the counting the rest will follow. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-18T04:33:46.137Z
2012-09-18T08:42:24.967Z
2012-09-18T08:42:24.967Z
schultem
<p>For example, let's say I have a friend sprinting a 50m distance and that friend wants me to time the race, but I don't have a stopwatch so I have to count "manually". Can I count while simultaneously thinking about how she'll do and while wondering what I'm going to have for dinner?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-09T04:30:06.103Z
I'm interested in dreaming, and there are instances where a dreamer is engrossed in the dream, while also analyzing the dream. These activities are done at the same time. I cannot comment on the waking consciousness.
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-22T19:29:24.540Z
I do this in general by "outsourcing" the counting to my fingers, which works precise but not very long. Might need to train binary counting first ;) (but thats a hard motor cortex task also...)
PythoNic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-03T18:54:07.807Z
I do this as well... I can count (like the number of entries I need to make in a database) and at the same time, type or read something different. I also can read/write while I'm singing... that's a whole different thing, I think it's weird that I hear all of the different chords and notes to the song at once, and in my head, I anticipate them- together, but separate at the same time.
user14627
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-24T12:53:43.683Z
Sometimes i remember music in my head and it goes as background music and im able to think apart from that. But i cant fully control music flow and my thoughts at same time.
M.kazem Akhgary
<cognitive-psychology><philosophy-of-mind><consciousness>
Is it possible to run multiple thought processes concurrently?
pasawaya
# Is it possible to run multiple thought processes concurrently?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-09-17)

For example, let's say I have a friend sprinting a 50m distance and that friend wants me to time the race, but I don't have a stopwatch so I have to count "manually". Can I count while simultaneously thinking about how she'll do and while wondering what I'm going to have for dinner?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, philosophy-of-mind, consciousness

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm interested in dreaming, and there are instances where a dreamer is engrossed in the dream, while also analyzing the dream. These activities are done at the same time. I cannot comment on the waking consciousness.  
> **username_2**: I do this in general by "outsourcing" the counting to my fingers, which works precise but not very long. Might need to train binary counting first ;) (but thats a hard motor cortex task also...)  
> **username_3**: I do this as well... I can count (like the number of entries I need to make in a database) and at the same time, type or read something different. I also can read/write while I'm singing... that's a whole different thing, I think it's weird that I hear all of the different chords and notes to the song at once, and in my head, I anticipate them- together, but separate at the same time.  
> **username_4**: Sometimes i remember music in my head and it goes as background music and im able to think apart from that. But i cant fully control music flow and my thoughts at same time.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2012-09-18. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

Parallel processes are often studied in a so called ['dual task' paradigm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-task_paradigm), where participants are drawing a picture and reciting a poem or, as in your example, counting and thinking about other things.
Often this method is used to demonstrate limits in attention and find insights into how the brain works (in a serial versus parallel manner). Training is an important factor in this question. It has been shown that with a sufficient amount of training a lot of tasks can be done parallel very well - so if you sit there long enough and automize the counting the rest will follow.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-10-06. Score: 8

I have to partly disagree with username_6 here-- he is right that the dual task paradigm is used to study multitasking, but the idea that we can truly do two cognitive tasks at the same time is still contentious. In particular, the opposing view might say that we can't really do two cognitive processes at the same time, but we are in fact switching between the two tasks very rapidly. To make a an analogy, consider a computer with a single-core CPU: although behaviorally it seems like you are running multiple processes at the same time, all applications still depend on a single bottleneck.

One of the most well studied experimental paradigms for this domain is called the '[psychological refractory period](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_refractory_period)', or PRP effect, which shows over [2,700 hits on google scholar](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22psychological%20refractory%20period%22&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0,44).

A typical PRP task has the subject perform two reaction time tasks. For instance, he may have to hit a button with his right hand in response to a high pitched tone, and hit a button with his left hand in response to a low pitched tone. At the same time, he performs another concurrent task-- e.g., saying "blue" in response to a blue stimulus, and "green" in response to a green stimulus. By altering the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) (that is, the time from the start of the tone to the start of the visual stimuli), we can examine what operations people are able to perform in parallel.

Each task can be broken down into three components: perceptual analysis, response selection (cognitive), and response processing. A prominent theory emerging from the results of many PRP tasks is that we are able to truly do two operations in parallel if they require different modes: for instance, we can do perceptual analysis of a visual stimuli and auditory tone at the same time, and we can make a manual and vocal response at the same time, however we cannot do two response selections at the same time because they essentially require the same cognitive resources (single bottleneck).

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/bnImu.png)

This image from wikipedia describes what I'm talking about. The response selection from the second task must wait for the response selection from the first task to finish before it begins. The result is that, at short SOA, the total time taken to respond to both stimuli is the same-- as long as perceptual analysis of the second task ends before the response selection from the first task.

So in sum, yes, it might be possible to do the two tasks you are talking about in parallel, especially with practice. But on a more fundamental level, you may really just be doing very rapid multitasking. If you're interested in this theory, you may also want to read about [threaded cognition](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=threaded%20cognition&btnG=&as_sdt=1,44&as_sdtp=), which demonstrates this effect for complex tasks.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Thanks for your response. Here is a paper that shows within a PRP paradigm that indeed parallel and serial processes exist. While I am not an expert in this area, this seems to be some interesting evidence for both processes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18650336  
> **username_5**: yes, that seems in line with my view. here's another good modeling paper that espouses the same view: [Byrne & Anderson (2001)](http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2001-18918-010)  
> **username_5**: there really aren't "left brain" and "right brain" tasks though. split-brain patients don't reflect typical brain functioning.  
> **username_7**: Very much like this answer. Much more nuanced than the accepted answer!  
> **username_8**: Yeah, there might be some kind of central executive performing task switching and governing process access to resources in the background, like the kernel and cpu. I have a feeling multi-tasking is largely up to different senses in thought. (could still be context switching) I have aphantasia, and as a result have an extremely hard time doing dual N back. Matching the audio portion is no problem, but keeping track of the cell position in the grid is nearly impossible. (need to translate it to the phonological loop) I imagine most people can have visual and narrative thoughts run at once.  

---

