WEBVTT - Multitasking Maniacs and the One Track Mind 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:13.840 Works dot Com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.200 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Last 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.440 time we talked, we talked a little bit about multitasking, 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.320 a little bit about multitasking as it relates to distraction, 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.480 the inner distractions, it's to a certain extant outer distractions. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:28.800 But in this episode we're going to really get down 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.760 to brass tacks about multitasking in the human mind and 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.120 if ultimately it is even possible, that's right, because you know, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:38.320 we all do it at all times. In fact, I 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.120 bet a lot of you out there right now are 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.120 listening to us and doing something else. And of course 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.160 we do that, right. I mean, when I'm working on something, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.680 I'll tend to listen to music or podcast. Um. So, 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.559 in one way, you could say that as a society 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.880 we can't uh not multitask just because of of where 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.280 we are. Yeah, it is a busy, busy world. We 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.040 we inevitably complicate our lives with this endeavor and that 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.479 endeavor we have. You know, we have family and home 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.840 and relationships, stuff we need to take care of. We 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.679 have bills, we need to take care of their stuff 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.880 around the house. There are pets who are pooping in 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.560 boxes and those boxes need to be cleaned out. We 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.480 have jobs, we have we have transportation, we have to 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.400 take their their varying levels of news that we ideally 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.000 want to keep an eye on. And then we have 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.119 recreations and we have passions that we wish to pursue 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:30.960 as well. And if you're lucky, you have a few 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.480 of those things that are so satisfying that when you 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.400 engage in them, everything else can fade away for a 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.959 little bit and you can sort of turn off the chatter, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:44.039 turn off the multitasking noise. Like like, in researching this, 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.600 I couldn't help but think about the default network that 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.480 we talked about a little bit, about the the the 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.440 endless chatter, and about um loops that have not been closed, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.160 these little things in our lives that we haven't checked 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.200 off yet, so they're always resonating when we see that 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.720 person or dry by that building, or whatever the case 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.400 may be. We have we have all of this stuff 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.760 just chattering in the background. And as you had alluded to, 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.240 when we get in that flow state, when we un 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:15.120 task um that is when we can experience, the chattering 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.760 just kind of going away, right, because you get into 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:19.440 that lovely state where you're only doing one thing and 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.960 you're really enjoying it. But most of the time we 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.200 are dipping our fingers and our thoughts in multitude of things, 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.200 and we think we're good at it that we are not. 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.160 We're going to discuss more about that today. And I 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.200 love that you said you mentioned unitasking because it instantly 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.840 brings my mind to to cooking and the idea, of 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.040 course that a unitasker is a kitchen object that has 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.720 only one purpose, and certain food people tend to frown 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:44.600 on the idea of a unitasker because it's like it's 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.240 a wasted gadget, like why do you have a melon baller? 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.200 It can only be used for melon balling when you 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.880 could use, you know, something else that can have multiple functions. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.440 Because it's actually turned out in some of the experiments 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.440 we we looked at were so I guess more in 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.520 the commentary on some of the experiments we looked at, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:06.200 um cooking like a really busy professional restaurant. UH kitchen 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:11.200 is often considered an environment where multitasking shines, where if 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.320 you if multitasking is possible, and people can do it, 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:15.840 or at least try to do it. That's one of 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.280 the places you want to because there's so many different tasks, 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:23.240 so many different meals being prepared in varying arrangements for 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.080 different tables, and only so many instruments and ingredients with 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.839 which to create it all. Well. Now, some people might 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.359 argue that those people are super taskers, and we talked 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:34.480 about that in the last podcast, But some other people 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.840 might say it's pretty wrote because you're doing the same ingredients, 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.640 the same recipes over and over again and things. If 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.720 you've ever been inside a professional kitchen or you work 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.400 in one, you already know that things already set forth 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.000 pretty clearly. The missing scene is already set up for 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.480 each station. In other words, everything is where it needs 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.240 to be. So it becomes a lot more a lot 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.760 more intuitive to to do that work. But the rest 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.320 of us, of us, right, who are not supertaskers, who 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.760 tend to go about our day in a haphazard way. 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.000 Sometimes we think we're good at this multitasking. But just 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.480 as an example of of how we are not, I 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.080 wanted to bring up email voice. This is like the 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.640 serie thing, right, So what thing no, no, this is 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.680 Have you ever been on the phone with someone, You're 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.960 having engaging conversation, You're pouring your heart out, okay, there 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.599 with you, there with you, and all of a sudden, uh, 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.240 someone seems suddenly disconnected and they start to go, well, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.600 what huh that? And then you hear tapping in the 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.880 background and you realize, oh my god, you're emailing as 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:41.000 I am pouring out that this this darkest secret of 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.760 my life to you. You know, I don't know that 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.479 I've encountered it personally, but maybe they're just clacking really quietly. 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.000 I have to say that there are a number of 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.880 people in my life who are multiteskers, particularly when it 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.520 comes to the phone. So I have, I have noticed this, 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:57.479 but I think all of you out there probably have 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.440 experienced this at one point or another. So it comes 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.640 back to this idea that you really can only do 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.520 one task well at a time. Um, even something is wrote, 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.280 is talking on the phone can be impaired if you're 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.120 trying to do something like emailing or reading or something. Yeah, 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:13.760 I have. I do have to say that there have 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.599 been some individuals that I've I've interviewed, either for this 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.680 podcast or for news stories, and there'll be a point 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.120 where I'm like, oh my goodness, they're driving a car. There, 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:24.840 there's no way I'm gonna get some good copy out 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.000 of them, Like um, a recent one I did. I'm 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.120 not going to out them as having driven for the 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.719 first portion of the interview, and I ended up not 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.360 using that that part because unsurprisingly, he was much better 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.720 once he stopped driving his car. But there was this 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:39.599 one virtual reality dude who was kind of like the 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.920 hot shot, like a he's older now, but like especially 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.360 back in the early days of virtual reality, he was 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.120 a real, uh superstar. You know. He was doing some 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.200 photo shoots for for the different tech magazines at all, 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.480 and I remember interviewing and I'm like, oh my goodness, 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.680 he is in a convertible. He's driving down and I'm imagining, like, 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:58.640 you know, like a highway out of fear and loathing, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.640 and he's chatting with me about virtual reality and gave 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.120 me some great copy. But he was driving a convertible 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.360 at at god knows what speed, so better I think 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.239 it inconvertible than in the bathroom. Have you read has 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.080 someone ever taking you to the bathroom where they've been 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.039 on the phone. No, I mean, I've heard people doing 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:19.240 it here at work, but but luckily nobody has has 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.200 has revealed themselves as doing that during an interview. It's 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.680 amazing to me. It's a sanctuary. You probably shouldn't bring 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.200 other people in with you, even if they're disconnected in 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.120 a way. You know. I had another guy who was 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.760 making coffee while talking to me about I think about 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:37.480 global warming uh and and climate change uh and just 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.680 in the background suddenly he's grinding beans. But but anyway, 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.719 I digress. Um, Okay, so obviously, yeah, we're not great 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.720 at multitasking. Um. If you need another example. Another classic 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.080 example is texting and driving. The R a c Foundation, 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.839 which is a British nonprofit organization that focuses on driving issues, 0:06:55.880 --> 0:07:00.200 asked seventeen drivers h four to use a dry think 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.679 simulator to see how texting affected their driving. The reaction 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.320 time was around thirty slower when writing a text message, 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:13.360 slower than driving drunk or stoned. And we had mentioned 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.640 this in the last podcast. This is due to doing 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.440 two visual tasks at the same time, because apparently, if 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.000 you're going to a multitask, you should not do two 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.000 of the same types of tasks at the same time, Yeah, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.240 because talking on the phone is certainly certainly distracts you're 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.360 still quote unquote multitasking to a certain extent, but but 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.720 you're combining um, you know, speaking auditory with visual Uh. 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:38.440 But when you are you know, like you said, when 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.280 you're when you're driving and you're trying to text, you're 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.720 combining two visual things. So both of those things, uh, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.400 the performance rate drops impressively. That's right. So if you're 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.760 in a multitask, multitasking and that the smartest way you 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.920 can um and obviously texting and driving is not smart 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.360 at all, but there's a good reason for that. Again visually, 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:00.960 you know, if you're taxing yourself in that way, there's 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.440 no way that you can really give the ultimate attention 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.600 to what you're doing. Yeah, because both of these especially 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.240 the driving, there's so many variables. Well even though we 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.320 do it enough to where it kind of becomes automatic, 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.880 but there are so many variables and driving there's so 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.680 many things you have to control that that the the 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:21.560 impact of multitasking really uh takes a toll in your performance. 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.680 As we mentioned in the other podcast, if you're chewing 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:27.280 gum while walking, you're technically doing two things at the 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:31.200 same time, but the the required skill in both of 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.360 those tasks, so low you're you're you're probably not going 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.600 to see any change in your ability. But if you're 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.960 talking and you're walking, you are sure to miss the 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.559 clown that rives past you, because we saw in another 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.920 study exactly right. So let's come back to the supertasker. 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:48.680 And we touched on this a little bit in the 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.280 previous episode, but now we're gonna we're gonna dive a 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.280 little deeper into what this is and who these people are. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.800 I mean, in a in a way, they're kind of 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.960 the the quiz dots Hotter act of the um of 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:05.440 of of of the tasking world. Um, the Dune fans 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.640 will remember, that's the idea. They're just like the perfect 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.760 godlike being that will deliver the planet. I was just 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.199 gonna say, bless you. What was the name of it 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:19.040 against Okay, yeah, well thank you. Uh but yeah, so 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.160 the idea of the supertask like I said, they're they're 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.760 one one in a d um very rare. Most of 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.520 us cannot multitask, but as a one experiment revealed, you 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:33.120 can find individuals whose brains seem uniquely capable of handling 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.359 multiple things at once. It's true. University of Utah professors 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:41.120 David Strayer and John Watson put student subjects into a 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.680 driving similar and at the simulator, and then at the 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.160 same time, they received a call on a hands free 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.920 cell phone, and Strayer says that they engaged in a 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.839 conversation that involved memorizing strings of words that were presented 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.280 as well as solving math problems. So they're driving along, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.360 they give this call, and first they're asked, uh, math, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.040 these math problems are correct? They given these examples, and 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.840 then they're asked to list words in order, all right, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:06.719 and they're up to five math problems in words that 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.920 could be included in a single conversation. Finally, the drivers 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.360 were asked to follow another car at a specific distance, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.320 you know, keep the keep a reasonable distance between themselves 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.040 in that car, right, not crashing into them. And that's 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.040 what they study was the distance between that car to 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.840 see how the conversation affected that distancing. All right. So 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.360 most did far worse when doing both tasks than when 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.200 they did only a single task. Uh. Their break reaction 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.079 time was much longer, and they tended to follow the 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.920 lead vehicle to greater distance. In addition, their memory and 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:40.840 math performance has suffered as well. But in in the 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.560 course of all these studies, out of about a thousand students, 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.839 they found around twelve who didn't have worst driving performance 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.360 and on average performed better on the memory and math 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.240 tasks while they were driving. And so here we have 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:58.480 the quitsas hat Iraq, the Messiah of multitasking, the quote 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:03.080 unquote supertaskers it. That's amazing to me because nine and nine, 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:08.000 eight of them excuse me, n them tanked, right, But 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.760 these twelve, these special twelve, something is going on obviously 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.800 with them to allow them to have such recall. Now 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.040 they want to do follow up studies about this, obviously, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:19.800 and do a little bit more mr I and get 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.480 into the brain because obviously that's where they're going to 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.520 find some answer to their questions about what's going on 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.040 um And we should probably dip into the brain as 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.120 well and figure out what parts are active here when 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.280 we're multitasking. Yes, let's dip in with with a melancholer 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.440 it were okay, let me take out a little bit 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.000 of the pre frontal cortex because apparently this is very 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.960 important because as part of the brain plans and coordinate actions. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.480 And here's a really cool thing. And humans, the prefrontal 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.640 cortex is about one third of the entire cortex, while 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.320 in dogs and cats it's about four or five percent, 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.040 monkeys about So this means the bigger the prefrontal cortex, 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.600 the more flexible our behavior can be, and the more 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.880 we can multitask. So um, some people would actually argue 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:08.360 that our early hominid ancestors had to multitask. This didn't start, um, 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:13.960 you know, in the twentieth century. This this rapid multitasking, 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.480 although of course it's gotten much more aggressive, but you know, 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.040 as soon as as early man had to deal with 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.280 multiple things going on. Um, you know, maybe it's stoking 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.240 a fire. And yeah, I mean certainly, when you get 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.600 into tool use and the use of cooking and basically 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.880 external digestion, you're beginning to the human as a as 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.360 a as an organism is beginning to expand and all 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.720 these varying occupations. And then once we this culture builds up, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.760 and certainly once you reach the point where individuals can 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.480 specialize in a given task, all the more. Right, So 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.080 there's an idea that it's hardwired in us where we 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.160 need to do it we're supposed to do it. But 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.000 to what degree, I guess is the question. And to 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.840 what degree have we evolved alongside what we're actually capable 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.080 of doing now or sort of capable of doing. Um. 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.320 What we find out is that when we are doing 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.599 a couple of things at once, yes, we've got the 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:14.520 prefrontal cortex to do it, but we're demanding much more 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.360 of the cognitive process. You and I have talked about 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.720 this before, this idea that we have a finite amount 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:23.160 of mental energy that we can sometimes bolster with food 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.160 and whatnot. UM. But like a video game, you have 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.320 a power meter, and everything that happens to you in 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.400 the course of the day is going to influence that 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.840 power meter. In the occasional power up may give you 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.840 a little boost, but at the end of the day 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.319 it's gonna wear. Yeah. But let's say that you are depleted. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.840 You you don't have you know, a good, um glycost 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.240 bump there with a piece of food or an apple 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.720 or something like that, and you're just tired, and you're multitasking, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.720 you're demanding a lot. You've got a big cognitive load 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.880 going on. And this is when you see the brain 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.480 um entering into what we call bottlenecking, and that's just 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.680 what it sounds like, right, nothing's really getting through because 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.600 you're trying to do a bunch of tasks at once. 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.560 And this is because you're doing something called task switching. 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.600 Right now. This is Yeah, this is really interesting because 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.800 it gets into the idea that there really isn't such 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.760 any such thing as multitasking, the idea that well, not 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.200 in the sense that we're doing two things at once. Instead, 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.640 we're more like an individual who who instead of doing 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.480 one thing with one hand and one thing with the other, 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.480 is switching back and forth between two tasks with both hands, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:31.880 if that makes any sense. Yeah, I kind of think 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.840 of it as a train conductor to right, like you're 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.880 you're switching tracks. Yeah, I mean, well, there's since the 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.960 title of the podcast, a one track mind, um, which 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.520 is generally kind of used as a put down. Oh 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.160 they've got a one track mind. They're only thinking about 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.320 one thing. But at any given moment, we can only 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.920 have a one track mind. Uh, that's just the the 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:57.160 extent of our cognitive capabilities. And uh, I can also 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.160 think of it like a two deck tape player. You know, 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.480 you got two decks there, You've got two different tapes 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.760 in there. Maybe one's Queen's Greatest hits and maybe the 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.520 other one is Bob Speaker's greatest hits. But you're only 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.480 gonna play Bob Sneaker or Queen. You're not gonna play 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.200 them both at the same time unless you do a 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.520 little mash up thing, which is going to require some 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.600 pre planning. And it's still just one track, right exactly. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.840 Um yeah. Brain scans during task switching show activity in 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.160 four major areas. The prefrontal cortex, of course, which is 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.120 involved in shifting and focusing your attention and selecting which 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.640 task to do one. And then you've got the posterior 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:34.160 parietal lobe, which activates rules for each task you switch to. 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:39.960 The anterior singulate gyrus monitors errors errors again very important. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.600 We'll talk more about that and the pre mot motor 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.600 car text. It's one of those morning's pre motor cortex 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.680 is preparing you to move in some way, right, that's 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.960 the part that makes your hands, in your legs and 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.280 your feet all moved together. So, according to Psychology Today's 0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:00.320 article the true cost of multitasking, each task switch might 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.280 waste only one tenth of a second. But if you 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.800 do a lot of switching throughout the day. This can 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.280 add up to a loss oft of your productivity. Yeah, 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.080 It's like, if you're doing two different things in two 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.440 different rooms of your house, you're gonna have to move 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:15.160 back and forth between the two and it may not 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:16.720 be much of a distance, but the more you go 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.840 back and forth, the more you're pacing around the house. Um. 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.360 It's it's also interesting thinking and looking at this multitasking 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:26.800 to to think of it as kind of juggling as well, 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.960 the idea that you have three balls and you're trying 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:32.600 to keep at least one of them in the air 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.360 at any given moment. But but that that tends to 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.120 serve as a slightly better way of thinking about it. 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.760 There's a study in the July sixteenth episode of neuron 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.520 Um that suggested that our brains aren't really built to 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.600 handle parallel processing like we've been talking about. But the 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.240 good news is that studies have shown that extensive training 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.720 can make us better at doing two things at once 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.120 or more, you know, juggling back and forth between these 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.080 two different things. And there are various theories and why 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.360 this is the case, but one of the strong ones 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.600 is that with a lot of practice, certain routines become 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.520 kind of automatic. UM. An example of this that came 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.679 to mind actually has to do with I was reading 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.119 some Roger Ebert reviews the other day because he tends 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:15.960 to be my go to guy, like with a lot 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:17.560 of people, he's kind of my go to guy for 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.399 movie reviews, and I ran across a thread where he 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:25.000 was responding to uh, some listener feedback on his review 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.880 for Silent Hill. Uh. The movie based on a video 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.760 game that came out a few years back from Christoph Ghans, 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:35.240 wonderful imaginative French director who did Brotherhood the Wolf and UM, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.240 and Ebert was just kind of perplexed by the movie. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.520 He was just like, that didn't really make sense to me, 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.040 and um, and somebody ask him a few questions about 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.000 an Ebert to drew some parallels to the study. UH. 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.520 It analyze people's brain activity during video games, and when 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.840 they first start playing a video game, a whole lot 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.800 of the brain area lights up because they're they're having 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.920 to deal with new controls and new environment and new activities. 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:00.199 But as they become better and better at the at 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.760 the game, that that neural activity shrinks down to like 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.679 just a very small area. And then and then in 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.960 this we get into the whole idea of video games 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:10.760 as a as a release, Like I don't want to 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:12.119 use my whole brain. I just want to use a 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.880 very little portion of it and give give my my 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.119 thinking arrest. So which kind of goes into the flow 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:19.919 state in a weird way, right, Yeah. And so the 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.320 better you become at a task, the more of a 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.120 flow state it is, or the more familiar you are 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.679 with the various things that go into it. Like I 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.080 think of activities we do on the computer, like like 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.560 um goodness, I used to when I worked in newspapers, 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.840 had he's in design all the time to build these pages, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.800 and they're all these hot keys, you know, different combinations 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.960 that then make that just save you enormous amounts of time. Uh, 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.080 and you end up just committing those two memory and 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.080 then inevitably you reach that point we're having to train 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.960 someone else and how to use it and cannot you know, 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.320 and there's like no actual memory of what any of 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.720 those hot keys are, Like I can only form up 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.679 by game memory, just like pure muscle memory. So I 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.879 had my brain had refined it down to just the 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.960 bare minimum amount of thought required to carry it out, 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.840 which enabled me to do things like build pages and 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.000 listen to science podcast at the same time. That's interesting 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:12.880 because I used to do a lot of database work 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:14.800 and it's sort of the same thing. And sometimes I 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.040 felt like, you know, sort of like I was in 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.240 the matrix and I was just like moving through space 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.639 and time and yeah, and fulfilling because you're doing all 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:25.720 these things at once. Yeah, you're right, because I felt 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.480 like I was being really productive. Put that hatteract making 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.679 a spreadsheet in that in that moment, I might have 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.880 just because it depended on the task. Again, it could 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.320 have been wrote at that point, but if I had 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.720 to engage a little bit more cognitive muscle, not so much. 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:44.919 Now here's the question men women do we have a 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.320 different share and multitasking is the jury out. Is it 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.199 true that women are great multitaskers or is it just 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.440 sort of cultural baggage. I've been thinking about this one 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.320 because in terms of cultural baggage, I mean, I can 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.600 definitely see where individuals would and I'm not not without 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.520 even dry any science into it, yet, I can see 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.879 where the cultural idea that women are multitaskers and men 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.000 are not they both men and women could really get 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.600 behind that idea. Because for women, Uh, if someone says, oh, well, 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.960 you're a natural multitasker, it's well, it's like, thank you, 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:17.600 that's great, because that means I'm capable of doing I 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.520 am the hits that cataract of spreadsheets, Thank you very much. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.800 And then for men, if someone says, don't you know, 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.199 don't worry, You're just not your your gender is not 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.000