Multitasking Behavior and Multitasking Ability

Cognitive failure under multitasking conditions has been demonstrated in various settings, including healthcare. However, in anesthesiology, the impact of multitasking on clinical performance has not yet been fully characterized. The objective of our study is to evaluate the impact of multitasking on anesthesiologists' clinical performance in a simulated setting.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluates whether 70 days of daily cranberry juice consumption improves cognitive performance and motor accuracy and reduces psychological and physiological stress responses during a motor-cognitive dual-task multitasking challenge in healthy adults aged 30-55 (Aim 1). It is hypothesized that chronic cranberry juice intake will enhance dual-task performance and attenuate stress reactivity (Hypothesis 1). It is further hypothesized that cranberry juice will mitigate multitasking-related fatigue, mood fluctuations, and cognitive impairment, accompanied by favorable changes in circulating stress biomarkers and stress-regulatory neurochemical pathways (Aim 2/Hypothesis 2). Finally, the study incorporates gut analysis to determine whether cranberry juice induces beneficial shifts in the gut microbiota and microbial metabolites (e.g., SCFAs) and whether these changes are associated with improved cognitive and stress-related outcomes, consistent with a microbiome-gut-brain axis mechanism (Aim 3/Hypothesis 3).