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| Can you manage multiple tasks at a time? |
- The term "multitasking" originated in the computer engineering industry.
Human brain has been considered the most deadliest weapon on earth and it is one of most precious gifts given to us by Almighty God.
But are we utilizing it completely and up to its highest level??
The answer is obviously no, because we don't want to do that moreover its our brain only that does not allows us to do things which would lead us to utilize it to 100%.
Our brain is considered pretty quick but it lacks many of the qualities that a super-computer has. For example we have trouble switching between tasks and ultimately we find ourselves doing only one task. Brain has a trouble keeping tab on multiple tasks as our computers can do easily.
A lot of research has gone into this field. Since 1990s , psychologists and researchers have done many experiments and test on human nature and multitasking capabilities. It has shown that multitasking is not as workable as when we concentrate on one thing at a time. Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell has gone so far as to describe multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one.”
Brain Divides to Conquer:
Although the human brain cannot actually do two things at the same time, a new study shows how it can keep two separate goals in focus at once.
A new study shows that mind can keep a focus on two tasks while actually doing only one task which could let your mind shift focus between tasks making your mind better multitasking machine as previously thought.
For the study, 32 right-handed subjects were asked to match letters while their brain activity was recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Subjects were motivated by a monetary reward they would receive based on how many letters they matched without error. During this baseline test, both hemispheres of the brain's medial frontal cortex (which is involved in motivation) appeared active. However, when the researchers introduced a second task, where the subjects had to match like uppercase letters in addition to matching like lowercase letters with separately accruing reward tallies, Koechlin and his coauthor Sylvain Charron (of the same institution) found that the subjects' brains divided the two reward-based goals between the two sides of the region. The results were published online April 15 in Science.
The area of the brain that was highly active in the observed multitasking behavior, the frontopolar cortex (which organizes pending goals while the brain completes another task), is "especially well developed" in humans, Koechlin says. It helps organize tasks and the order in which their components should be completed (as highlighted by patients who have damaged this part of the brain and are especially poor at multitasking, he notes). This area's lesser development in other primate species leads Koechlin to think that the ability to hold more than one goal in mind at once might be unique to our species.
Within the results of Koechlin's work is an explanation for why people tend to prefer binary options, such as yes-or-no questions and if-then statements. "This finding further suggests that the frontal function cannot keep track of more than two goals/tasks at the same time," Koechlin explains. "Humans have problems deciding between more than two alternatives…. A possible explanation is that they cannot keep in mind and switch back and forth between three or more alternatives."
Conclusion:
Human beings can become a better multitasker in coming future and can improve their productivity and efficiency with which they can do their work. I hope that era comes soon and some technology comes asap so that i can write multiple posts at a time for my dearly readers at techbits404.
PS: Whatever we are and whatever we will be , its always gonna be awesome!!!
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