The Myth of Multitasking

1. Why is multitasking considered by many psychologists to be a myth?
Multitasking is considered to be a myth since we human beings are only 1 and we were born with only 1 brain. Studies show that multitasking is not doing a series of things at a time, in fact it just is the switching of tasks in just seconds, weather it be checking our Blackberries, checking our emails, listening to music or chating with our friends online. The multitasking is proven to be not efficient at all since we tend to focus on one thing only and forget our do what we are handling on the other hand in a mediocre way.

2. To what does the term "response selection bottleneck" refer?
The term "response selection bottleneck" refers to when the human brain is forced to respond to several stimuli at once and proves that as a result, we end up being ineffective persons since what we lose time trying to determine which task to perform first.

3. David Meyer has found that multitasking contributes to the release of stress hormones and adrenaline. Why is this important?
The fact that David Meyer found out that multitasking contributes to the release of stress hormones and adrenaline is important since releasing these may cause long-term health problems if not controlled, and contributes to the loss of short term memory which in the end may be fatal to one or to one's family.

4. Explain what Russell Podrack found regarding multitasking.
Russel Podrack found out that multitasking affects the way we learn. Russell points out that learning in respect to multitasking may be less effective, in other words, less flexible. In the end we are not able to retrieve information as easily. Podrack proved his theory by scanning the brains of people who multitask and those who don't and found out that people who multitask use a part of the brain called striatum, a region for of the brain involved in learning new skills although in a mediocre way whereas people who tend to focus on one specific activity and are not distracted seem to recall and store information easily. Podrack is able to conclude that we human beings are made to focus and that when we force ourselves to multitask we drive ourselves to being less efficient people.

5. What does the author conclude could happen to our culture as a result of increased multitasking?
The author concludes that our culture may gain in information, but weaken in wisdom, meaning that true, our society will be more aware of things happening around but less efficient on trying to improve.