Think you’re good at multi-tasking ? Here’s how your brain compensates – and how this changes with age
Peter Wilson has received prior funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), studying the motor and cognitive development of children. He currently receives funding from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), studying hazard perception in older adult pedestrians.
We’re all time-poor, so multi-tasking is seen as a necessity of modern living. We answer work emails while watching TV, make shopping lists in meetings and listen to podcasts when doing the dishes. We attempt to split our attention countless times a day when juggling both mundane and important tasks.
The dilemma with multi-tasking is that when tasks become complex or energy-demanding, like driving a car while talking on the phone, our performance often drops on one or both.
The issue with multi-tasking at a brain level, is that two tasks performed at the same time often compete for common neural pathways – like two intersecting streams of traffic on a road.
