This article explores the myth of multitasking, arguing that both computers and human brains are inherently incapable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously. It delves into the cognitive and physical consequences of multitasking, highlighting studies that reveal its detrimental effects on attention, memory, and overall performance.
ArticleBody:This article was originally featured on The MIT Press Reader. This article is adapted from Richard Cytowic’s book “Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age.” Whether applied to machines or human brains, the term “multitasking” is a misnomer. Despite marketing claims, your computer does not multitask, and neither does your brain. The latter simply cannot, whereas a computer’s processor divvies up each clock cycle and apportions a slice of time — 200 milliseconds, say — to each task.
Some types of brain damage suspend patients in a perpetual state of inattentional blindness, a variety of agnosia . In common terms, neurology calls this looking but not seeing. A growing proportion of the population seems to be drifting through life, looking at their screens but not seeing what is going on around them. Because attention is like a sharp-edged spotlight, we can never know what we are missing. Anything outside its perimeter lies, by definition, within our mental blind spot.
MULTITASKING TECHNOLOGY BRAIN ATTENTION MEMORY
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