「ながら作業」が身体能力を向上させる －認知負荷に伴う覚醒度の上昇によって起こる筋力増強－

2026-10-01 理化学研究所

本研究成果の概要

＜関連情報＞

• https://www.riken.jp/press/2026/20261001_1/index.html
• https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03014-2

マルチタスクは覚醒度を高めることで、人間の筋持久力と作業パフォーマンスを向上させる Multitasking boosts human muscular endurance task performance due to elevated arousal

Sofia Nagisa ∙ Ethan Oblak ∙ Shinsuke Shimojo ∙ Kazuhisa Shibata
iScience  Published:September 30, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117635

Highlights

• Multitasking facilitates muscular endurance when task interference is minimal
• Endurance improves as the concurrent cognitive task becomes more demanding
• Higher cognitive-task reward also facilitates muscular endurance
• Pupil-linked arousal tracks multitasking-induced facilitations in endurance

Summary

Multitasking is generally thought to impair performance because of the interference between tasks arising from the limited processing capacity. Contrary to this view, we show that multitasking can also facilitate performance when interference between tasks is minimal. Participants performed a handgrip muscular endurance task concurrently with a cognitive task. Performance on the endurance task was enhanced with the difficulty of the cognitive task. A similar effect was observed when monetary reward was offered for the cognitive task. These facilitation effects were associated with greater pupil dilation elicited by the cognitive task. These results suggest that a concurrent cognitive task can elevate a pupil-linked arousal state that facilitates endurance performance under the task conditions examined here, potentially by increasing the overall processing capacity. Together, these results identify a previously overlooked condition under which the arousal-related benefit of a concurrent task may outweigh its interference cost and facilitate, rather than impair, performance.