| SUPERTASKERS: WHY YOUR BRAIN MIGHT BE ABLE TO MULTITASK |
| Supertaskers: Why Your Brain Might Be Able to Multitask By: Cherish Hamutoff You consider yourself the exception to the rule: you can truly multitask – talk or text while driving. It turns out; you may be right if you’re one of the 2.5% of so called “supertaskers.” A study at the University of Utah that will be published in a 2010 issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review found that a very small percentage of the population can actually successfully multitask without a decline in performance while driving. Additionally, some even were more successful at multitasking than completing the tasks individually. University of Utah psychologists, Jason Watson and David Strayer, invited 200 undergraduates to participate in a standardized memory test (word and math) and a simulated driving test, both separately and then simultaneously. While 97.5% of the participating students displayed a measured decrease in memory skills and driving abilities during the multitasking portion, 2.5% (the “supertaskers”) maintained or even improved their performance. In the majority of people, combining tasks overloads the frontal cortex; the hub of mental focus, as the brain switches back and forth from task to task. In supertaskers, the brain might actually be switching on different mental recourses to maintain or heighten performance. This small group of people seems to juggle multiple tasks by focusing on the critical pieces of information and disregarding less relevant stimulus, which is a novel way of understanding how the brain functions. These supertaskers were also able to score higher on memory tests as a single task to begin with. Watson and Strayer are looking into the genetic and biological differences of these supertaskers to pinpoint the source of their abilities. Professor Daphne Bavelier of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester suspects these abilities are similar to her studies of the heightened abilities that are displayed in people who play action video games for five or more hours a week for at least a year. The question is--can these skills be learned? The younger generation is used to multitasking because of current technology (chatting, texting, video games, music and studying at the same time), and as Bravelier says, “They might be less distracted by irrelevant noise and therefore able to put more of their resources toward the task at hand.” Further studies are being conducted to discover why certain individuals have developed these abilities and if multitasking can be taught to the average person. |