Multitask Research Paper

Words: 1554
Pages: 7

How does the Brain Multitask?
Multitasking can take place when someone tries to perform two or more tasks at the same time, switch from task to task, or perform two or more tasks in quick succession. Some examples of multitasking are talking and writing, and talking on the phone while driving. Both of these are harder to do at the same time. I am going to talk about complex tasks versus simple or familiar tasks, what happens in the brain when you multitask or attempt to multitask, supertaskers, women versus men multitasking, and tests on multitasking.
The Prefrontal Cortex controls the ability to pay attention. It helps to focus your attention on a goal and talks with other brain systems to do the task. The reason why we don’t work as well
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For example, researchers have used an MRI scanner to show test subject’s brains as they attempt different tasks. If the numbers are one color, for example, red, the person has to decide which digit is a bigger number. If the numbers are a different color like green for example, the subject decides which number is actually a bigger font size. He would have to alternate between colors, so he might see green, red, green, red, green, red, which is much harder than green, green, green, red, red, red. He has to think “This has a bigger font size”, then he has to switch his thoughts to “This has a bigger number.” It would be like pictures with words on them. You would alternate between saying the word and the picture. The guy’s brain has to stop and take a second before responding when the colors are alternating. Robert Rogers and Stephen Monsell found that even when people had to switch completely predictably between 2 tasks every 2 or 4 trials, they were still slower than task repeat. Basically, even when you know it’s going to change color, your brain is still slower to process the information then when it’s the same thing every