In this paper we investigate two hypothesis regarding the use of deep
reinforcement learning in multiple tasks. The first hypothesis is driven by the
question of whether a deep reinforcement learning algorithm, trained on two
similar tasks, is able to outperform two single-task, individually trained
algorithms, by more efficiently learning a new, similar task, that none of the
three algorithms has encountered before. The second hypothesis is driven by the
question of whether the same multi-task deep RL algorithm, trained on two
similar tasks and augmented with elastic weight consolidation (EWC), is able to
retain similar performance on the new task, as a similar algorithm without EWC,
whilst being able to overcome catastrophic forgetting in the two previous
tasks. We show that a multi-task Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (GA3C)
algorithm, trained on Space Invaders and Demon Attack, is in fact able to
outperform two single-tasks GA3C versions, trained individually for each
single-task, when evaluated on a new, third task, namely, Phoenix. We also show
that, when training two trained multi-task GA3C algorithms on the third task,
if one is augmented with EWC, it is not only able to achieve similar
performance on the new task, but also capable of overcoming a substantial
amount of catastrophic forgetting on the two previous tasks.