Multitasking and the brain

There continues to be a significant amount of research identifying which parts of the brain are involved in specific information processing activities. It is known that the hippocampus is activated when declarative memory is used for processing context, such as information obtained from textbooks during reading or study. In contrast, a different part of the brain, the striatum, is used in the processing of procedural memory which is used for habitual tasks and activities such as bike riding or dialing a familiar number on the telephone. The types of processing that occur in these two regions are significantly different and impact storage and retrieval. The hippocampus will sort, process, and recall information involving declarative memory. Memories in the hippocampus are easier to recall in situations different from where they were learned, whereas those stored in the striatum are closely tied to the specific situation in which they were learned. It has been found that learning with the striatum while performing habitual or repetitive tasks leads to knowledge that cannot be generalized as well in new situations. (Poldrack as cited in Aratani, 2007) Having difficulty transferring knowledge from one situation to another is not consistent with the type of learning that we hope takes place in a college classroom and can be applied elsewhere and in the future. The research of Rubinstein, J., Meyer, D., and Evans, J. (2001) is consistent with earlier studies finding that multitasking takes more time and involves more errors than focus on a single task. When learning with distractions associated with multitasking, students’ brains are trying to “wing it” by using a region, the striatum, that is not best suited for long term memory and understanding. This is consistent with the findings of Delbridge (2001) who also noted that focusing on one task or a single goal results in fewer errors and less time than trying to focus on multiple tasks and goals.

Although the term multitasking is relatively new, many people might remember their first Psychology course and learning about D. E. Broadbent’s (1958) dichotic listening experiment and the theory of “selective attention”. That study involved research subjects attending to an auditory message directed to one ear while a second message was transmitted to the other ear. He found that there was little if any content from the nonattended ear that was remembered. Based on his findings, Broadbent proposed the theory of a limited processing channel (LPC) which explained that our neural circuitry has a restricted or limited capacity to deal with sensory input. This limits the amount of information that can be sent on to short term memory at any given moment in time. If information cannot be sent to short term memory, or if it is lost from short term memory, it cannot be forwarded to long term memory for storage.  

Source:

Aratani L. (February 26, 2007). Teens Can Multitask, But What are the Costs? The Washington Post. 

Ben-Shakhar, G., Sheffer, L. (2001). The relationship between the ability to divide attention and standard measures of general cognitive abilities. Intelligence 29, pp.293- 306. 

Delbridge, K. A. (2000). Individual Differences In Multi-Tasking Ability: Exploring A Nomological Network; Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan, 

Hembrooke, H., Gay, G. (Fall 2003). The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments”, Journal of Computing in Higher Education. Vol. 15(1). 

Kieras, D.E., Meyer, D.E. (1994). The EPIC architecture for modeling human information processing and performance: A brief introduction. University of Michigan technical report-94/ONR-EPIC-1. 

Konig, C. J., Buhner, M., Murling, F. (2005). Working Memory, Fluid Intelligence, and Attention Are Predictors of Multitasking Performance, but Polychronicity and Extraversion Are Not. Human Performance 18(3), pp. 243-266.