Background: Substance dependence is associated with deficits in several areas of executive functioning, such as planning and multitasking. Traditional tests of executive functioning have been criticized for their low ecological validity. Shallice and Burgess (1991) developed the Multiple Errands Test (MET), where participants are required to perform multiple tasks in a real-world setting. In this study, we aimed to adapt the MET for use in populations with substance dependence. Objectives: This study aimed to: (1) examine the applicability of a contextualized version of the Multiple Errands Test, namely, the Multiple Errands Test – Contextualized Version (MET-CV); (2) study the testing context reliability and convergent validity of MET-CV scores; (3) compare the performance of people with substance dependence to a control group. Methods: Data were collected from 60 participants with substance dependence and 30 healthy controls. Both groups performed a neuropsychological assessment, which consisted of the MET-CV and traditional neuropsychological tests (Letter Number Sequencing, Zoo Map Test, Revised Strategy Application Test, Information Sampling Test, Stockings of Cambridge). Results: The MET-CV has adequate testing context reliability and moderate convergent validity relative to traditional planning measures. People with substance dependence (PWSD) showed significant deficits in executive function tests compared to healthy controls, most notably on the MET-CV rather than on traditional neuropsychological tests. Conclusions: The MET-CV can be feasibly applied in the context of therapeutic communities treatment in PWSD. The MET-CV showed adequate reliability and validity, and detected planning deficits in PWSD. (JINS, 2018, 24, 347–359)

This paper provides theoretical foundations to the contemporaneous increase in computer usage, human capital, and multitasking observed in many OECD countries during the 1990s. The links among work organization, technology, and human capital is modelled by establishing the conditions under which firms allocate the workers' time among several productive tasks. Organizational change is then analyzed in a dynamic perspective as the transition from specialization toward multitasking emphasizing its technological and educational determinants. We show that large enough “organizational shocks” can trigger a transition from specialization to multitasking, and this transition obviously should be accompanied by gradual increases in human capital.

The aim of this study was to explore multitasking skills in a Chinese sample of 22 children with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with 22 healthy controls matched by gender, age, and IQ. All of the participants completed the children's version of the Six Elements Test (C-SET) and neuropsychological tests that captured specific domains of attention, memory, and executive function. Children with ADHD performed significantly worse than the healthy controls in all domains except the number of rules broken in the C-SET. The majority of the C-SET domain scores correlated significantly with measures of executive function. The ADHD group also demonstrated deficits in various neurocognitive test performances compared with the healthy group. This preliminary study suggests that the C-SET is sensitive to multitasking behavior in Chinese children with ADHD. The main impairments of multitasking behavior in this clinical group involve the inhibition of goal-directed planning, flexible strategy generation, and self-monitoring. (JINS, 2006, 12, 575–579.)

Shallice and Burgess (1991) reported the utility of the Multiple Errands Test (MET) in discriminating executive deficits in three frontal lobe patients with preserved high IQ, who were otherwise unimpaired on tests of executive function. The aim of this study was to ascertain the value of a simplified version of the MET (MET–SV) for use with the range of people more routinely encountered in clinical practice. Main findings were as follows: 1) The test discriminated well between neurological patients and controls, and the group effects remained when the difference in current general cognitive functions (WAIS–R FSIQ) was taken into account. 2) The best predictors of performance in the healthy control group (n = 46) were age and the number of times participants asked for help (with more requests associated with poorer performance). 3) In the neurological group, two clear patterns of failure emerged, with performance either characterized by rule breaking or failure to achieve tasks. These two patterns were associated with different dysexecutive symptoms in everyday life. 4) The patients not only made more errors than controls, but also different ones. A scoring method that took this into account markedly increased test sensitivity. 5) Many patients passed traditional tests of executive frontal lobe function but still failed the MET–SV. This pattern was strongly associated with observed dysexecutive symptoms in everyday life. The results demonstrate the clinical utility of the test, and suggest that there are two common and independent sources of failure on multitasking tests in a general neurological population: memory dysfunction, and initiation problems. (JINS, 2003, 9, 31–44.)