Multitasking is Not Good for The Brain

I am too young to forget as much as I have forgotten. Have you ever had memory delay? You know, it is when someone asks you something and it takes a while to recall. It could be 5 minutes or it could be 5 hours before you remember or can think clearly enough to answer. I have been there far too often lately. When I was younger my friends used to tell me that I never forgot anything because I was so good at recalling the details.

What has caused the change in my memory was the fact that I’ve spent the last 9 years multitasking. Neuroscience has shown that multitasking affects memory, causing a delay in what we recall. So what have I decided to do? STOP MULTITASKING.

In today’s world those words can be viewed as blasphemy. We have accepted the belief that in order to be successful you have to be able to do multiple things at one time. FORGET THAT (pun intended). I’d rather preserve my memory then to accept that. FOCUS is the key to success. Not-to-mention I have made more mistakes multitasking than taking the time to focus on what I am doing and setting boundaries against distractions.

Don’t believe me? Check out this article written by Dr. Bill Klemm written on Oct 29, 2008 as well as the other links provided below.

Brains Can’t Recall Multi-task

“Our brain works hard to fool us into thinking it can do more than one thing at a time. It can’t. Recent MRI studies at Vanderbilt (#3) prove that the brain is not built for good multi-tasking. When trying to do two things at once, the brain temporarily shuts down one task while trying to do the other. In the study, even doing something as simple as pressing a button when an image is flashed caused a delay in brain operation. MRI images showed that a central bottleneck occurred when subjects were trying to do two things at once, such as pressing the appropriate computer key in response to hearing one of eight possible sounds and uttering an appropriate verbal response when seeing images. Activity in the brain that was associated with each task was prioritized, showing up first in one brain area and then in the other ― not in both areas simultaneously. In other words, the brain only worked on one task at a time, postponing the second task and deceiving the subjects into thinking they were working on both tasks simultaneously. The delay between switching functions was as long as a second. It is highly likely, though not yet studied, that the delays and confusion magnify with increases in the number of different things one tries to do simultaneously.

So what has this got to do with memory? Well, if you try to memorize the first task and the brain immediately switches to the second task, performance of the second task interferes with consolidation of the memory of the first task. In my earlier article on memory consolidation, I explained how early memory is vulnerable to interference and must be protected from distractions and new information in order for the memory to be made permanent. Likewise, there are proactive effects wherein what you learn on the first task can interfere with learning on the second. All these problems are compounded if there are three or more tasks in a “multi-tasking” experience.”

http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/10/29/memory-problems-perhaps-you-are-multi-tasking/ 

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060726083302.htm