Which statement captures the role of the Central Executive in managing dual-task performance under high demand?

• A. Dual-task costs rise with Central Executive load.
• B. Dual-task costs are unaffected by Central Executive load.
• C. Dual-task costs only occur when one task is verbal.
• D. Dual-task costs disappear with practice.

Answer: (A)

The central idea here is how the Central Executive handles attention when you try to do two tasks at once. The Central Executive is the attention controller that decides what to focus on, when to switch tasks, and how to coordinate the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. When the demand on this control system is high, there are fewer resources left to manage both tasks, so performance drops more in dual-task situations. That’s why the statement that dual-task costs rise with Central Executive load is the best answer: as executive-control demand increases, interference between tasks grows.

Dual-task costs aren’t independent of executive load, and they aren’t limited to verbal tasks—any two tasks that compete for control can show costs. Practicing tasks can reduce some of the burden, but the need for coordination doesn’t disappear entirely, so the costs don’t vanish completely.