Multitasking Drains Your Brain's Energy Reserves, Researchers Say (qz.com) 106
An anonymous reader quotes an article from Quartz:
When we attempt to multitask, we don't actually do more than one activity at once, but quickly switch between them. And this switching is exhausting. It uses up oxygenated glucose in the brain, running down the same fuel that's needed to focus on a task...
"That switching comes with a biological cost that ends up making us feel tired much more quickly than if we sustain attention on one thing," says Daniel Levitin, professor of behavioral neuroscience at McGill University. "People eat more, they take more caffeine. Often what you really need in that moment isn't caffeine, but just a break. If you aren't taking regular breaks every couple of hours, your brain won't benefit from that extra cup of coffee."
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?
"That switching comes with a biological cost that ends up making us feel tired much more quickly than if we sustain attention on one thing," says Daniel Levitin, professor of behavioral neuroscience at McGill University. "People eat more, they take more caffeine. Often what you really need in that moment isn't caffeine, but just a break. If you aren't taking regular breaks every couple of hours, your brain won't benefit from that extra cup of coffee."
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?
Switch tasks to get Frosty psots (Score:3)
I find it depends on who's driving the switching. If I'm doing it at my own pace it's much less annoying than when some asshat is wittering or interrupting.
Maybe because I switch as I'm coming out of "the zone" anyway?
Re:Switch tasks to get Frosty psots (Score:5, Informative)
I find it depends on who's driving the switching. If I'm doing it at my own pace it's much less annoying than when some asshat is wittering or interrupting.
Unlikely. Studies have found [npr.org] that people that think they are good at multitasking are actually the worst at it.
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we don't actually do more than one activity at once, but quickly switch between them.
Were you doing something else while you were reading TFA?
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I find it depends on who's driving the switching. If I'm doing it at my own pace it's much less annoying than when some asshat is wittering or interrupting.
Maybe because I switch as I'm coming out of "the zone" anyway?
Especially with the last bit, this doesn't seem like multitasking in the usual problematic sense. I often find a great synergy with 2 or 3 projects going on during the same week, as doing one will give a nice break from the others. I might spend an hour or a few on one at a time, but sometimes the runs get shorter -- think compilation or cooking breaks, for example. It's well known that daemonizing your problems into the background while doing something else often helps you find unexpected solutions.
IM(H
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It may also, if you multitask in this sense, be that what triggers a switch is getting stuck or bored with Task A, which usually will result with a decrease in efficiency at that task; by switching to Task B or Task C, you manage to maintain interest and sometimes that can also actually help you get around the block.
On the other hand, if you're trying to do Tasks A-D all at the exact same time, yeah, you're going to do a lousy job at all of them.
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More simply the brain feels good for some people when fully active in certain ways, say problem solving. However when shit boring tasks crop up that require little mental effort, in order to keep the juices flowing, multiple tasks need to be done, still a poor substitute for that focused task that feeds the machine and keeps those good chemicals flowing. So the trick with multitasking has always been when to wind down to focus in single efforts and when to bring in multiple tasks to fill the gap. Get it wr
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Sometimes not even trying can drop you straight into the F territory, because you get stuck on something like the Code That Won't Compile or groveling through utterly dry documentation for the one bit of information you actually need (which should be there...somewhere...) and you can't get it done. Switching can even help you actually get it all done--most people do have a hard limit on how long they can pay sustained attention to one thing, and this is on the whole considered a Good Thing since it means y
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This is particularly bad if handling a social situation is one of those projects, so it's impossible to do real programming while engaged with clients, for example.
Next you'll be telling me that hackers can't really crack into the Pentagon in under 5 minutes while carrying on a conversation with multiple people in a dark room where you can read the terminal text off the walls.
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I just wish I could nice -n 19 my brain's "web surfing" task.
In other news (Score:2)
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That's not what TFS is saying. It's saying the perceived overhead of switching tasks has a real impact on the brains energy balance, i.e. the splitting of 100% of your attention itself has tangible costs associated with it.
Re:In other news (Score:4, Interesting)
But what they're ACTUALLY saying is that if you do tasks serially, the total useful effort will be closer to 100% than if you try to switch back and forth between them.
Re:In other news (Score:4, Funny)
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Learn the word 'no' and employ it with abandon.
Or just put up a sign: "Go solve your own problem, don't bother me!"
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Or just put up a sign: "Go solve your own problem, don't bother me!"
And when they make a rubbish solution, then it's your problem doubled.
Re:In other news (Score:4, Funny)
In that case, you're not actually single tasking, are you?
Play the people off of each other. for example, you have tasks for A,B,C, and D and you're doing them in that order. If B pesters you while you're doing A's task, then D pesters you, tell D that his task is being delayed by B's task but if B were to die mysteriously, D's task would get done a lot sooner.
Execution time VS work time (Score:1)
How much you can/should juggle really depends on what you're doing, as well. If I've got various processes that require 5 minutes of work and 1h of execution (e.g. they take a long time to "run"), I'm not being very productive by take 1h5m to do task A, then task B, etc.
The more likely scenario though is that task A requires periodic attendance in 10-15 minute intervals. Usually I can juggle at least a few of these at a time and pop between them, accomplishing several full tasks within 1-2 hours instead of
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Anecodtally (Score:1)
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?
Once I tried to get first and second post at the same time and I just collapsed in exhaustion.
no idea what this is about.. (Score:5, Funny)
KitKat (Score:2)
Turn it all off (Score:2)
Notifications from apps ranging from email, slack, Facebook, Twitter.
Just turn them off. You're back in control. My 'out of office' says 'back on Monday phone if important'
Re: Turn it all off (Score:1)
Mark, this is your boss. We couldn't get a hold of you over the weekend. You're fired.
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Re: Turn it all off (Score:1)
That is why I keep phone on. If important enough contact me. Otherwise not going to respond to continuous stream of crap.
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Do you need extra brain-memory, try this upgrade guide...
... You don't need those childhood memories anyway.
Re:This is so vague... (Score:5, Interesting)
Because in your definition if i am taking a shit and reading a magazine at the same time, i am switching between them?
No, you're not.
I used to have epilepsy, and one thing it taught me was what automatisms are and how many I had. Have you ever had to stop at the store on the way home from work, but you spaced out and drove home before you realized it? That's because you were using an automatism to drive, while your thalamus had your attention focused on something else, like crap on the radio.
Basically a seizure (the kind I had) was a blue screen crash; I would convulse on the floor for a few minutes, and then my brain would have to reboot entirely from scratch. (That was a process that was 90% complete within an hour, but didn't really finish for several days- sort of like how Windows boots up "right away" but then ignores you for a couple minutes.) It wasn't like waking up- this was a very smooth process with no well-defined boundaries, from complete unconsciousness, to a dim and foggy awareness, then to a period of general ditziness and impaired memory, and finally to fully awake and normal. (Afterwards I would write shitty code for a couple days until recovery was complete.) But during the early stages my initial behavior was being completely driven by automatisms.
The first thing I would do after a seizure (or this is what people told me) would be to crawl around, or stand up, start swatting at anything that came near me, etc. Stuff an amphibian could do. Then I would start running around in random directions, descending stairwells without falling, etc. As the minutes went by the behavior would get more complicated. My wife told me stories about how I unzipped my pants and pissed against the wall like it was a urinal. Once I picked up her toothbrush, made a clumsy effort to brush my teeth with it, then dropped it, kneeled down on the floor to look for it, but didn't recognize it. So I picked up the bathroom scale, as if that was what I was looking for. I looked at the scale in my hands, couldn't figure out what to do with it, and set it down on a table before continuing to run around the house constantly looking for "something". She once found me outside completely naked, trying to read the electric meter. People at work said I'd get off the floor, sit at their desks while unconscious, and start typing crap into their keyboards. I once tried to make coffee at 3 AM but couldn't figure out what to put in the filter. When I was 20 I even drove a car for a couple miles through a busy neighborhood while unconscious. I didn't get in an accident, but I did miss a turn. I didn't realize what was going on until I was getting puzzled by an unfamiliar intersection while waiting at a red light.
Once something feels "second nature", your brain has developed an automatism for doing it, which requires less interaction with the thalamus, freeing you to focus your attention on something else. But doing two unpracticed tasks at once requires constant process switching.
Re: This is so vague... (Score:1)
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The serenity of single tasking (Score:2)
I agree. Trying to switch between tasks has a huge overhead and the effort to regain focus is noticeable for me. Given the chance, I much prefer bringing all my concentration to bear on a single albeit complex task to doing simultaneous but simple tasks.
One could argue that if the task does not merit your full attention, perhaps it is not worth doing at the moment? How many workplace errors and even injuries occur because someone wasn't properly focused on what they were doing? No one questions the d
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Given that I had the latter, I cannot consider myself unusually brilliant, so I presume 100% concentration gave me the edge that kept things going for so long.
O & M guys in industry w
Summary sounds kinda self-contradictory (Score:2)
Re:Summary sounds kinda self-contradictory (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually taking a break is substantially different from loading up a new context and working at it, then swapping back.
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You're the one asserting that taking a break is the same as a task switch.
Taking a break ios more of a pause than a task switch. To go with a physical analogy, taking a break in a workshop means you put the work down and clear off a spot on the bench for a cup of coffee. Task switching means you put the workpiece and all the tools on the bench away, unchuck the bit you were using, then get out the other workpiece and tools needed to work on it, chuck a different bit.
One of those is clearly more work and mor
Switch tasks when you are stuck (Score:5, Interesting)
What is totally useless is to do several things in parallel. The old story of Napoleon being able to dictate a letter, read a book, have a conversation and lead a battle all at the same time is simply bullshit. Had he done so, he would had sucked at all of them, in parallel.
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It's likely not a coincidence that Napoleon was known for doing power naps. He must have at least took the advice given in the summary.
Re:Switch tasks when you are stuck (Score:5, Interesting)
When stuck at one problem it is of no use to focus. Better do something different, so your brain stops going in circles.
Ever had trouble solving a problem, took a break and did something completely different, like take a shower, and *bam* the answer popped into your head while you washed your hair? Left/Right Brain Switch. I am *not* a doctor or scientist, but here's my take on this:
By taking a break and focusing on something else, you are fostering a left to right brain switch [psychotactics.com]. In most people, the Left Brain is dominate and, basically, likes to be in charge. However, it usually tries to solve problems in a linear fashion, using concrete thinking. This doesn't always work. The Right Brain problem solves differently, in a more creative fashion, using more abstract thinking. However, when the Right Brain tries to help out, the Left Brain says, "shut up I'm thinking." Taking a break gives the Left Brain something else to focus on and allows the Right Brain time to work and slip the answer under the Left Brain's door.
For more about general Left/Right Brain stuff, see:
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Ever had trouble solving a problem, took a break and did something completely different, like take a shower, and *bam* the answer popped into your head while you washed your hair?
I've certainly experienced this quite a few times. But how do you explain all the really really smart guys that are completely bald?
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They scrubbed their hair out from all those extra showers?
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The more seamless it becomes, the more I can intermix creativity and logic at the same time.
I've read that Left/Right Brain switching can become easier with practice. Sounds like you've had that practice.
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I've heard the same thing, described as "Pile A" and "Pile B". (I think it was a famous science fiction writer, who had two piles of manuscripts he was working on -- but I can't remember which one. Maybe Robert Heinlein?)
Yeah, RAH really had the knack for plausible-sounding BS. We miss ya, Bob!
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences? (Score:2)
Yes. I'll get back to you after a break.
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I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else.
Plenty of anecdotal evidence (Score:1)
This is absolutely my experience. Running a small business, have to joggle issues, people, client problems, new opportunities etc., and then of-course other non-business related things. Doing it in more than one time zone as well. Yes, it is draining, tiring, hard to do. I like running the business, I like building the services and products, I like dealing with every day interesting questions. I do very often feel overwhelmed, often procrastinate solving any one of the problems present because there is
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Thinking you know something and actually knowing something with evidence to back it up are totally different things. There are plenty of things people feel to be true which are found to be wrong once given a closer look.
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There are plenty of things that people know to be true that are not.
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And how do you know that?
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Everybody knows that!
Computers and brains. (Score:3)
Context switching [wikipedia.org] has a cost - film at 11.
Helps to learn a new definition for "one thing" (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes (Score:3)
>"Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?"
Yes. I find over multitasking exhausting in every way... mentally and physically. Often it can't be avoided, but usually it is due to artificial deadlines and unrealistic expectations by others. It makes a job so less rewarding- it seems like nothing really ever gets done and you can't be proud of the results. Sometimes it is better to just block things and get some stuff done from start to finish and move to the next task. And there is an inherent reward for having finished something and done it right than juggling 6 things for 10+ times as long.
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Me as well. It's quite noticeable. One key distinction (also noted by others) is whether the context switch is externally imposed or internally generated. The latter are relatively painless, and probably actually productive as long as I'm not procrastinating excessively as a result.
The former are just unpleasant, usually. Sometimes, though, when being pulled off of some bullshit, make-work task, I actually rather enjoy it.
Anecdotal experiences (Score:2)
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?
Yes. For the past decade, since I graduated and joined the work force, I have told my boss that interruptions during deep problem solving is already a major issue, but if the interruption requires any amount of thinking, I will quickly burn out and may only get about 2 productive hours in. Other people I work with claim to not have this issue, but it's easy to see their mistakes increase quickly. I'm very introspective and consciously monitor my thinking. I can easily tell my ability to think has been affec
A (mysoginistic) friend of mine used to say... (Score:2)
True Bilinguals have an advantage (Score:1)
You want examples? (Score:1)
Anyone have any anecdotal experiences that back this up?
Quit interrupting my daily dose of Slashdot to ask me for examples of things from my life. Interruptions like these make me tired. And cranky.
This One Weird Trick Improves Your Multitasking (Score:1)
You should be wary of sample sizes of 1, but you asked for anecdotal evidence so here goes: I have multi-tasked various daily activities for the last 27 years, and I have found that taking a total break of roughly 8 hours every day helps. I come out of this (usually night-time) break period more refreshed than before and I find I don't need as much caffeine after the break.
What do I do with this break? Not only do I shut my eyes but I also lie down in a darkened room. I even lower my heart rate and activate
So, sources? (Score:1)