Multitasking

Human multitasking is an apparent human ability to perform more than one task, or activity, over a short period of time. An example of multitasking is taking phone calls while typing an email and reading a book. Multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and apparently causing more errors due to insufficient attention. Studies have shown that it is impossible to multitask. However, if one is a professional at the task at hand, then it is possible to do these tasks.

Although the idea that women are better multitaskers than men has been popular in the media as well in conventional thought, there is very little data available to support claims of a real sex difference. Most studies that do show any sex differences tend to find that the differences are small and inconsistent. A study by psychologist Keith Laws was widely reported in the press to have provided the first evidence of female multitasking superiority.

Because the brain cannot fully focus when multitasking, people take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error. When people attempt to complete many tasks at one time, “or [alternate] rapidly between them, errors go way up and it takes far longer—often double the time or more—to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially,” said Meyer.

Author: Rubinstein (2001)

Source:

* Rubinstein, Joshua S.; Meyer, David E.; Evans, Jeffrey E. (2001). Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching. Human Perception and Performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology. "Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 16 April 2014.

* Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., Evans, J. E. (August, 2001). Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 763-797.