The Myth of Multitasking

It seems pretty obvious that I can't box and pick my nose at the same time.
Picking my nose and scratching my ear is not beyond me though.

If what's really meant by "multitasking" is starting the potatoes boiling before opening the baked beans, it seems fairly apparent that we all do it all the time.
 
Hoppy said:
Industrial strength multitasking: playing the piano from written music. You have 2-3
lines of music, each with different time values, dynamics. You interpret, play 2-10 notes at one time, may sustain some but not all. The amount of information processed is overwhelming.
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This is the closest to genuine multitasking anyone gets. I'd actually say that improvising a fugue on the harpsichord, as JS Bach was renowned to have done, is even more impressive. He made up pieces on the spot, consisting of several lines of music, which all harmonised with each other in a particular structure. I've certainly never been able to do anything like that.
 
arthwollipot said:
This is the closest to genuine multitasking anyone gets. I'd actually say that improvising a fugue on the harpsichord, as JS Bach was renowned to have done, is even more impressive. He made up pieces on the spot, consisting of several lines of music, which all harmonised with each other in a particular structure. I've certainly never been able to do anything like that.
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Composing messages here, and listening to Carly pouring her heart out... :)
 
arthwollipot said:
The problem is in the definition. As per the "normal" definition, which comes from computer science, multitasking refers to doing two or more tasks simultaneously. The nurse isn't adjusting the patient's sheets and changing her drip simultaneously, he's doing them one after the other. His day is taken up by doing many tasks, one after the other very efficiently. Sometimes one task can be put on hold while he attends to another, then returned to, but that's not multitasking, it's task-switching.

The word "multitasking" has come out of the domain of computer science to refer to this kind of rapid task-switching. Almost everyone in this thread has used the word this way, but this change in definition makes the linked article pretty redundant, since it is referring to the former computer-scientific definition.
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Spot on.

arthwollipot said:
Most people can walk and chew gum simultaneously, because they're autonomic functions and use different areas of the brain. Most people can't adjust sheets and change a drip simultaneously - mostly because each of those tasks requires two hands, and most people don't have four.
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Well I tend to use my chin and shoulder, and a foot or two when I've used up my supply of hands!
 
Merton said:
I'm not sure where she got the information, but our Safety Manager sent a document at one point that claimed it takes several seconds to readjust to the road after looking away. I want to say it was around 8s, but that seems too long to me now. In any case, adding that time to the average amount of time to send/read a text (~4.5s), a driver is really risking his or her own safety, as well as that of others, by texting while driving.
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I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't true, remember we actually only have a very detailed view of a very small area of our visual field and the brain fills in a lot of the perceived "detail" in the rest of it. I can see how it would take some time for the physical movements of the eye (including focusing) to scan the scene in front of us and update our "perception map" with the new data.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Define separate. One can hurt all over at the same time or hurt in a single place. Is hurting all over having separate pains at the same time?
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I'm actually not trying to be a smart-ass about this, and i wonder if any experiments along these lines have been done?

Suppose a blind-folded willing participant was poked with needles, in 3 separate areas of their body, precisely at the same time...

Would the poke-ee be able to correctly assess the poking?
What about 4 needles, and so forth?
 
This morning, preparing my water bottle for the bike ride, I removed the bottle from the freezer, where it had spent the night about 20% full of water, so there'd be ice* in the drink later in the ride.
Then I pulled a bottle of sports drink from the fridge, and holding the receiving bottle to accept the liquid from the donor bottle, avoiding spilling any of the liquid.. the bottle openings being of different sizes made this imperative.. and gauged the amount of the liquid in the bottle, as I intended to mix in another sports drink, which I did, all the time contemplating the multi-tasking involved.
Holding, pouring, gauging, contemplating...
*The ice usually lasts long enough to still have some in the bottle at the mid-point of the ride, at about 17 minutes.
 
arthwollipot said:
The problem is in the definition. As per the "normal" definition, which comes from computer science, multitasking refers to doing two or more tasks simultaneously. The nurse isn't adjusting the patient's sheets and changing her drip simultaneously, he's doing them one after the other. His day is taken up by doing many tasks, one after the other very efficiently. Sometimes one task can be put on hold while he attends to another, then returned to, but that's not multitasking, it's task-switching.

The word "multitasking" has come out of the domain of computer science to refer to this kind of rapid task-switching. Almost everyone in this thread has used the word this way, but this change in definition makes the linked article pretty redundant, since it is referring to the former computer-scientific definition. Most people can walk and chew gum simultaneously, because they're autonomic functions and use different areas of the brain. Most people can't adjust sheets and change a drip simultaneously - mostly because each of those tasks requires two hands, and most people don't have four.
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Good comments. Although the article is not merely about terminological differences.

It goes further to say that this rapid multi/serial tasking (call it what you will) is not efficient.

"[W]hen you shift focus from one task to another, that transition is neither fast nor smooth. Instead, there is a lag time during which your brain must yank itself from the initial task and then glom onto the new task. This shift, though it feels instantaneous, takes time. In fact, up to 40 percent more time than single tasking - especially for complex tasks."

For example, say you're typing a letter. Then you see an email notification. You switch to your inbox and read the title or whole email.

Then you switch back to the letter. You have to then read over what you were typing and summon your thoughts again. When you've finished the email, when you get back to your inbox, you have to read the email again to get your brain refocused on its contents.

You've just made two tasks take probably twice as long.
 
When i poop, I've noticed that I also pee...but not necessarily vica-versa.
I wonder if everyone pees when they poop?
 
I've heard that squatting over a piece of paper and coughing is part of the processing in procedure at jail... This is eject any foreign objects secreted "up there".... and I expect more often than not, what really is up there. Ewwwww!
 
quarky said:
I'm actually not trying to be a smart-ass about this, and i wonder if any experiments along these lines have been done?

Suppose a blind-folded willing participant was poked with needles, in 3 separate areas of their body, precisely at the same time...

Would the poke-ee be able to correctly assess the poking?
What about 4 needles, and so forth?
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I'd be willing to help with this experiment, depending on who the 'volunteer' test subject was.
 
Back when I was a productive sort I used to have detailed discussions with wholesale fruit taders in the early hours of the morning while driving using my hands free phone.
I did notice that by the time I actually reached the Fruit market and spoke to them face to face I would have forgotten details of the conversations and wierdly could't remember parts of the very familiar journey.
I usually have a very good memory for detail in conversations that aided me greatly in business but driving and trying to absorb detail affected it. This was at I time when I was contemplating selling up, whether that had a subliminal sort of affect I don't know. It was quite unsettling to try to recall driving through a Village that I know very well and coming up with a complete blank.
 
learner said:
Back when I was a productive sort I used to have detailed discussions with wholesale fruit taders in the early hours of the morning while driving using my hands free phone.
I did notice that by the time I actually reached the Fruit market and spoke to them face to face I would have forgotten details of the conversations and wierdly could't remember parts of the very familiar journey.
I usually have a very good memory for detail in conversations that aided me greatly in business but driving and trying to absorb detail affected it. This was at I time when I was contemplating selling up, whether that had a subliminal sort of affect I don't know. It was quite unsettling to try to recall driving through a Village that I know very well and coming up with a complete blank.
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Good example. :hug5


I've given up listening to podcasts while browsing online. I just end up not hearing so much of it that I might as well not have bothered.

I do my podcast listening whilst doing housework, and even then I find myself losing track in parts of a show.
 
Orphia Nay said:
Good example. :hug5


I've given up listening to podcasts while browsing online. I just end up not hearing so much of it that I might as well not have bothered.

I do my podcast listening whilst doing housework, and even then I find myself losing track in parts of a show.
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The nearest I have seen to multi tasking is my Mum. you would be impressed. She has mastered, simaltaneously- Knitting, humming a show tune, watching the television with one eye and keeping an eye on the neighbhours with the other. This is full on MTing for her though. I know this because if I interupt she will say something like..."Shut up fathead can't you see i am concentrating" She also swears like a Navvy between most, if not all of those words.
What a woman
 
JJM 777 said:
I can, and often will, text while driving. Or talk to the phone. Or read a map, either physical or online via the web browser of my phone. Or find the address or opening hours of a shop on the phone web browser. I am conscious of the increased risk, and being conscious about it is what makes it safe, actually it makes me more alert than normally, more conscious about the necessity of being alert.
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Please let me know if you have any plans to drive in the UK. A decsription of the car would also be useful.
 
learner said:
The nearest I have seen to multi tasking is my Mum. you would be impressed. She has mastered, simaltaneously- Knitting, humming a show tune, watching the television with one eye and keeping an eye on the neighbhours with the other. This is full on MTing for her though. I know this because if I interupt she will say something like..."Shut up fathead can't you see i am concentrating" She also swears like a Navvy between most, if not all of those words.
What a woman
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:D Sounds like my mum, except for the swearing, plus my mum will be telling me what Mrs So-and-so said to Mrs Thingummy about Mrs Whatsit. Then the next day she'll tell me the same story again.
 
Multivac said:
Please let me know if you have any plans to drive in the UK. A decsription of the car would also be useful.
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You will notice me, I drive on the right.

Me staying away from your roads doesn´t mean that nobody else eats a Big Mac meal behind the wheel on your roads. The drive-in lane serves the meal right to the driver´s seat, by the way.
 
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