Reading :: On Task

On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done
By David Badre

Another short review. I picked up this book on Kindle to get a better handle on what cognitive neuroscience has to say about tasks. The book is readable, full of examples and research summaries pitched to a general audience. But at the same time, I found it a little frustrating, since it tries to balance between the author's deep specialist knowledge and the general audience register. That is a tricky balance to keep, and it's hard for an author to figure out (for instance) how much detail is enough, how much explanation is needed at a given stage, and how much repetition to bring across chapters. I don't think the balance was quite right here, but to be fair, the book was Finalist for the PROSE Award in Popular Science and Mathematics, Association of American Publishers—so take what I say with a grain of salt. 

In any case, parts of the book are fascinating. Badre notes that we still don't have a good explanation of how people orchestrate even a fairly simple task, such as making a cup of coffee (p.1). The brain must generate and track plans and link goals with actions, AKA cognitive control or executive functions (and the author acknowledges that these are slightly different in the specialist literature, p.2). "Cognitive control processes live in the murky spaces between knowledge and action," he adds (p.3). 

In subsequent chapters, Badre discusses the evolutionary origins of human cognitive control; stability and flexibility; hierarchies; multitasking; the tricky question of stopping (i.e., finishing or abandoning a task); and how cognitive control changes over the lifespan. Among other things, Badre notes that our memories are really geared more toward making successful future predictions rather than recording the past; that our cognitive abilities decline after 30, with a sharp decline after 65, and that this sharp decline is probably due to the fact that we compensate failing cognitive functions with other cognitive functions until we can no longer compensate adequately; and that problems that were traditionally framed as inhibition problems are more likely deficits in motivation.

Overall, the book is a really interesting look at what cognitive neuroscience has to say about how we perform tasks. At the same time, it tends to get a bit into the weeds, limiting its clear application to our own lives. Still, I expect that I'll revisit it as I continue thinking about what makes people productive.