The Multitasking Mind

One area of concern for neuroscientists is the effect of multitasking on the brain. Computers allow unprecedented opportunities for multitasking. In the following video, teens check their Facebook, their text messages, or play games while they do homework or answer interview questions.

The researchers in this video by PBS are optimistic about the effects technology can have on our brains and are not discouraged by the prevalence of multitasking. Other experts are more cautious in embracing technology.

In the 2008 article "The Myth of Multitasking," senior editor Christine Rosen expresses her concern about multitasking and how it negatively affects the brain's ability to focus and store information. Rosen presents multitasking as one of the most dangerous products of technology use today because it has created what Rosen quotes from Linda Stone as "continuous partial attention." Our brains are never truly focused on one task if we are always sitting with a computer or phone that will alert us to Facebook notifications, emails, breaking news stories, and other distractions. All of this multitasking leads to diminished mental capacity. Rosen cites research done by psychologist David Meyer that shows that multitasking can trigger the release of stress hormones, which affects the brain's short-term memory and physically harms us.

Another alarming point is raised by the research done by psychology professor Russell Poldrack that used brain scans to demonstrate how multitasking affects what parts of the brain are activated. Rosen quotes Poldrack's explanation that the brain scans of multitasking subjects showed activation in their striatum, which is a region of the brain responsible for learning new skills. However, the brain scans of the people who were not multitasking showed activity in the hippocampus; the hippocampus is one area of the brain responsible for storing and recalling information. This research indicates that when people multitask, they do not store information because their brain is busy processing the multiple ongoing tasks instead.

If the brain is consistently stimulated by multitasking, then the conclusions drawn from my previous posts about neural plasticity and the cerebral activation during Internet searches imply that our brains could be currently adjusting to multitasking. This would mean that we might eventually get better at performing simultaneous tasks, but an improvement in the ability to multitask would not necessarily mean an improvement in the ability to store information while multitasking if the same parts of our brain are always activated by multitasking. Until more research is done, people are faced with the choice to keep multitasking and see what consequences await them, or play it safe and minimize their multitasking behavior.