To Multitask or Not to Multitask, that is the question.

The information here has been found out there on the web and there are links pointing to the quotes on Multitasking. You’ll also be require to have an open mind while reading this especially if you think you can or have been multitasking. The basic meaning of Multitask: "the handling of more than one task at the same time by a single person".

There are many ways to use the word "multitasking" and that's one reason there are so many different opinions about it. It is not multitasking when you use a variety of techniques to achieve one goal. Of course when you're playing music, you're often using multiple fingers and body parts to make that music. But all these activities are put to one use - making music. That is not the multitasking spoken of here. Now, if while you're playing your music, you also try to make a list in your head of the activities you need to do for the rest of the day, or if you're trying to mentally create your shopping list for the trip on the way home from rehearsal, you're indeed multitasking and that second activity would definitely interfere with the quality of your practice. We are talking about the brain’s ability to pay attention. It is the resource you forcibly use while trying to listen to a boring lecture at school. It is the activity that collapses as your brain wanders during a tedious presentation at work. This ability for the brain to pay attention is not capable of multitasking.

Try to perform two tasks that you know well and time yourself. Then try doing each of those tasks separately and have them timed as well. Add up the totals for the two tasks (there can’t be any mistakes). Halfway down: yourmindonmedia.com/mastering-your-multitasking/, there is a written multitasking exercise to see how your efficiency, accuracy, and effort are affected by it.

A series of other studies has found that two circuits, narrative and direct experience, are inversely correlated. In other words, if you think about an upcoming meeting while you wash dishes, you are more likely to overlook a broken glass and cut your hand, because the brain map involved in visual perception is less active when the narrative map is activated. Basically, you don't see as much (or hear as much, or feel as much, or sense anything as much) when you are lost in thought. Sadly, even a beer doesn't taste as good in this state.

David Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan who's studied the effects of divided attention on learning, takes a firm line on the brain's ability to multitask: "Under most conditions, the brain simply cannot do two complex tasks at the same time. It can happen only when the two tasks are both very simple and when they don't compete with each other for the same mental resources. An example would be folding laundry and listening to the weather report on the radio. That's fine. But listening to a lecture while texting, or doing homework and being on Facebook-each of these tasks is very demanding, and each of them uses the same area of the brain, the prefrontal cortex."

Researchers have documented a cascade of negative outcomes that occurs when students multitask while doing schoolwork.
First, the assignment takes longer to complete...
Second, the mental fatigue caused by repeatedly dropping and picking up a mental thread leads to more mistakes. ...
Third, students' subsequent memory of what they're working on will be impaired if their attention is divided. ...
Fourth, some research has suggested that when we're distracted, our brains actually process and store information in different, less useful ways. ...
... The results suggest, the scientists wrote, that "even if distraction does not decrease the overall level of learning, it can result in the acquisition of knowledge that can be applied less flexibly in new situations."

So when it comes to learning and doing two things at the same time - we can't remember something that never really entered our consciousness in the first place. Of course, that’s common-sense (the expressiong 'common-sense' today, should be called 'un-common-sense', why, because so many don't have it).

No wonder it’s illegal to drive and text at the same time!
So just make sure when doing schoolwork or learning anything, the cell phones are silent, the video screens are dark, and that every last window is closed but one.


The Real Harm in Multitasking (Oct 8 2014)

New studies show that multitasking kills your performance and may even damage your brain. Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.

But what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford researchers compared groups of people based on their tendency to multitask and their belief that it helps their performance. They found that heavy multitaskers-those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance-were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time. The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another. Ouch.

Multitasking Lowers IQ! - A study at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they'd expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night.


So, what about the brain? It has a left and a right side. Most men are left brain dominant and most women are right brain dominant. However, it is possible to become 50 percent left and 50 percent right. Find out more about the brain. But what about your personality? How does that factor into the left vs right brain? Find out more ... .
Here is more about the brain and how to improve it.



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