Research Hit: Multitasking is Multiple Skills

New research shows three main types of multitasking

Haven’t you always said that the brain can’t multitask?

Not quite — I’ve said that our brains can only single task on cognitive tasks. The brain can and does operate in parallel, but it very much depends on the task.

Some obvious examples are we can walk and talk at the same time, we can breathe and read at the same time, etc. But as we raise the cognition and attention levels, the less is able to be done, and the more we focus on single tasks. So we may be able to drive and talk at the same time, but when parking in a tight spot, we will stop talking and pay attention to the task at hand.

This gives us clues to how the brain operates.

But in business many people are constantly multitasking?

Yes, indeed, this is a common problem — almost all research points to single sequential tasking as being more efficient — and considerably more efficient i.e. if you take five tasks and try to do them together vs. do them one at a time, you are much quicker, up two or three times quicker, doing them independently — and the quality is also higher.

So what is this research then?