Fig. 1: Schematic representation of the multitasking paradigm.

The task consisted in a primary spatial monitoring task, in which the location of small dot(s) flashing briefly on the screen had to be reported (i.e., left, right, both sides). In the Single Task (ST), this was the only requirement. In the Auditory Dual Task (ADT), patients also had to report the object corresponding to the sound that they previously heard through headphones, whereas in the Visual Dual Task (VDT) they had to report the shape previously presented at fixation. The condition was made explicit in the instructions, which were given before each block. Note that conditions only differed for their task demands, but not for sensory properties. Thus, the difference in performance between single and dual-tasks is particularly suited to evaluate susceptibility to multitasking. The visual stimuli are not depicted in scale, see main text for an extended description.