Why Multitask is a Myth
Are Women Better in Multitasking than Men?
Have you ever done schoolwork or work while watching television? Or maybe driving a vehicle while listening to our favorite songs on Spotify? It is now commonplace to do two or more activities at the same time. Moreover, technology that has become so sophisticated makes us able to move from one activity to another quickly. The following is an explanation of some research related to multitasking.
Many people practice being able to multitask. They also claim to be able to multitask, anywhere and anytime. But, based on National Public Radio (NPR), researchers say that multitasking is a myth. Furthermore, humans will never be able to multitask. Why?
Basically, the human brain can only focus on one activity that requires cognitive processing. When we multitask, we are not actually doing two things at once, but only shifting attention from one activity to another (task switching). This is what makes us unproductive. In research, people who multitask will experience a 40% decrease in productivity compared to individuals who focus on doing one activity completely and then move on to other activities or tasks.
Multitasking also increases the possibility of making errors or mistakes in carrying out tasks. The reason is that when we multitask, we find it harder to filter out irrelevant information. In addition, our brain takes four times longer to recognize one task or one particular thing, so that when we multitask, it takes more time to complete these tasks.
Research from the University of Tokyo, Japan conducted by Katsumi Watanabe found that individuals who frequently use two or more gadgets at the same time (such as chatting while watching TV) have lighter brain thickness, especially in the anterior cingulate cortex. In fact, this is the part that controls empathy and emotion.
Not only that, shifting attention from one activity to another can have an impact on memory decline. This is because we cannot see detailed information when the attention process or our attention is working to move from one activity to another.
There has been no research that shows results that individuals who often do multitask will have good cognitive capacity. In fact, a study from the University of London showed that subjects who multitasked experienced a decrease in IQ. Multitasking also increases the production of cortisol, a stress-inducing hormone.
Are Women Better at Multitasking than Men?
More than 80 percent of people believe that women are better at multitasking than men. Actually, there is no consistent study results about how gender differences affect the ability of multitasking. In one study it was found that women have slightly better multitasking abilities than men. The results of the study show that both men and women have difficulty determining priorities when multitasking, but men tend to have more difficulty when given two tasks that require full attention.
Another study found out that women and men performed equally well in both sequential and concurrent multitasking situations. Even when controlling for processing speed and spatial abilities, differences in multitasking costs across women and men remained absent.
A recent study from Hong Kong found that men outperformed women in multitasking. They said men tend to have a faster processing speed than women. The gender difference in multitasking could happen because of their difference in processing speed.
We couldn’t say men or women is better in multitasking because our ability to multitask is also determined by the type of task (whether it requires spatial or verbal abilities) and how difficult the task is. In these studies above, there are still some other variables that can potentially affect the multitasking performance such as the social economic status, intelligence, and females’ phase of the monthly cycle which were not assessed and controlled in the current study.
