The Truth About
Multitasking: How Your Brain Processes Information
Joe Robinson
It's the gospel of productivity in a maxed-out world: Multitasking
helps you get more done faster. The only thing is, it doesn't, says David
Meyer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Michigan--where he serves as
director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory-
-and one of the country's leading experts on
multitasking.
"When you perform multiple tasks; each require some
of the same channels of processing, conflicts will arise between the tasks, and
you're going to have to pick and choose which task
you're going to focus on and devote a channel of
processing to it," he explains.
Meyer has been at the forefront of research for several
decades on how the brain processes information and copes with multitasking. He
has investigated the brain's speed, accuracy
and memory in information processing while working with
psychologist David Kieras for the Offic
of Naval Research.
A study Meyer co-wrote on the limitations of multitasking
("Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching")
went viral in 2001,
setting off the first awareness of the counter productivity
of simultaneous activities.
Meyer's work has helped demonstrate that humans have
distinct bandwidth challenges,
which can make multitasking problematic. It turns out the
brain's ability to process information
is limited in a variety of ways -- from processing
channels to limits on data volume,
velocity and working memory -- that confound true,
simultaneous task actions.
Counter to common belief, you can't do two cognitively
complicated tasks at once, Meyer says. When you're on the phone and writing an
e-mail at the same time, you're actually switching back and forth between them,
since there's only one mental and neural channel through
which language flows. "If you have a complicated
task, it requires all your attention,
and if you're trying to spread your attention over
multiple tasks, it's not going to work," he says.
That's heresy in a time-urgent world with the attention
span of a macaque on crack.
Meyer admits that multitasking is not only getting more
prevalent, but it's also "very often highly inefficient and can be
dangerous to your health." Even the most adept multitasker will
"crash and burn" trying to resolve simultaneous
conflicting demands, Meyer says.
That means you could wind up sending the wrong e-mail;
blow an account; have a "brownout,"
in which too much access to the cerebral grid shuts down
critical thinking; or worse,
find yourself in a truly hazardous situation, such as
driving while using a cell phone.
"When you're driving, you have to use the language
channel to talk, read signs, plan your next move. If you're trying to have a
cell phone conversation while you're doing that,
either the phone conversation will suffer or the
driving," Meyer says.
He points to the growing number of auto accidents caused
by businesspeople sending work texts from behind the wheel. The conflicts
triggered by incessant multitasking can set off chronic stress and slow
you down, shredding productivity. In fact, trying to complete two or more tasks
at once
can take 50 percent more time or longer, depending on the
complexity of the tasks, Meyer says.
The good news is that there is hope for the
attention-span-challenged, in the form of self-regulation through better time
management and scheduling. "If you're disciplined enough, you can map out
the usage of your time in a way that minimizes your
exposure to interruptions," Meyer explains.
Entrepreneurs are some of the most compulsive
multitaskers--"macho master multitaskers,"
as Meyer puts it -- but he says you'd be wise to cool the
scatterbrain jets and focus.
"If you want to be a creative entrepreneur, you
ought to be setting aside large chunks of time
where you just think," he says. "Einstein was
not multitasking when he was dreaming up
the special and general theories of relativity."
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224943
You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneous recall – or
pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an
instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember
what I’ve read.
Perhaps you’d like to
check out my sister blogs:
All aspects of regular, each-word
reading and education.
Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills
significantly faster
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com just for fun.
To quote the Dr Seuss
himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn;
the more places you'll go.”
No comments:
Post a Comment