Does Multitasking Lead To A More Productive Brain?
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NPR Podcast on Science Friday
Clifford Nass, author, forthcoming "The Man Who Lied to His Laptop" (Penguin Current, 2010), professor, communication, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
Adam Gazzaley, M.D., associate professor, neurology, physiology and psychiatry, director, neuroscience imaging center, University of California, San Francisco
According to Nass and Gazzaley current research indicates that multitasking leads to a decrease in deeper thinking when people are multitasking. With each switch of task there is a cost in understanding because the brain has to refocus each time a person switches tasks. This generation may not experience the joy of deep thinking.
Multitasking research is difficult to conduct. College students, even when offered money, could not even give up a week without technology because they felt that would “destroy” their social life.
What I call Constant Connection Syndrome (CCS) is an addiction the researchers explained is caused by pleasure chemicals produced by the brain in anticipation of new and better information. Evolution favors alert and curious minds.
Current Research: Is multitasking trainable? What are the social implications of not giving someone your complete attention? What are the best techniques for setting tech parameters that do not impede work performance and social interactions?
Research Based Tip For Students: Instrumental music is ok to use during homework because it is processed on the side of brain where words are processed so it does not interfere with reading, writing, or arithmetic and may reduce stress.
1 comments:
- Robin Larrabee said...
- Laurie- I think what you say,"This generation may not experience the joy of deep thinking" is very evident in the high school classroom. Their understanding, and their wanting to understand is cursory at best. I think high school students would react the same way about ruining their social lives. I see so many who cannot even make it one class period without trying to text. Our lives are so different!
- November 24, 2010 4:30 AM
Hey Laurie!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with this post. If I am working on two things at once I limit my attention. Once I start working on more than two I am constantly back and forth starting on one thing, moving to the next, back around to the first. I tell myself to finish one thing before moving to the next in order to be more productive. I do work better with background noise such as music and notice my students do also.
excellent food for thought. It's too easy to make assumptions about thought processes just because the older generation cannot fathom how the younger generation can get any work done with... [add new device here] playing so loud. There was a PBS special about multitasking and students and a growing trend for students to not be able to do long-essays, etc. And these were Ivy League students being questioned. The thinking was that students spent a log of time coming up with perfect sentences but were less able to pull together perfect papers. One student quipped something like: but, you have to agree, it was a kick ass sentence. We live in interesting times (for those who can and cannot process "deep thoughts").
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