The Role Of Multitasking In The Brain

Have you ever drove down the road while trying to text some or while trying to put mascara on? Many students and workers have some form of a distraction when they perform tasks. This is just one example of multitasking. Most people think that they can do other tasks while doing their work at the same time but researchers disagree. Multitasking is used when someone jumps from one task to another while trying to pay attention at a certain challenging problem. When people multitask they activate a certain part of their brain. This part of the brain is called the prefrontal cortex and this is located in the frontal lobe. Before, a person can understand how the brain processes multitasking they must understand the anatomy of the brain and what parts of the brain are being used during multitasking.

The brain’s outermost layer is called the cerebral cortex.

The cerebral cortex is what makes a person unique, controls their speech, and the ability to think. The brain is divided into four lobes inside the cerebral cortex, the parietal lobe, occipital lobe, the frontal lobe, and temporal lobe. Each of these lobes have a different function. The parietal lobe which is located in the middle of the brain processes sensory information such as sense, taste, touch, and pain. The occipital lobe is in the is located at the back of the brain and controls your vision. The temporal lobe in located in the bottom section and this helps interpret sounds and language. Lastly, the frontal lobe this is the lobe is used with multitasking. The frontal lobe is the most important out of these, it is located in the front of the brain and controls a person's body movements, attention span, and reasoning. (M.D PJ,

2016)
How much is a person really paying attention when multitasking? Most people believe multitasking is efficient and that it will save time but really it doesn't. When multitasking our brains shift attention from one task to the other, causing us to be slower and not nearly as good at both activities, an example of this is talking on the phone while driving. In a study researchers found that Multitaskers lost a significant amount of time switching back and forth between tasks, reducing their productivity up to 40% (Margaret Rouse, 2013). If a person is used to doing a certain task then it would cause our brains to stop and when we continue a different task at hand it takes a longer time for our brand to start back up. Our brains only skim the information instead of taking it in and processing it.
Lastly, men and women have different ways of multitasking. Men and women brains process information differently. Women have a better way of thinking about multiple things, while men have better motor skills. In a study it was said that men are slower and less organized than women when multitasking. The results were that the men were slower taking 77% longer to respond, and women took 69% longer (Morgan, J. 2013). In another study it shows that women are five times more likely to react quicker then men would.
In conclusion, the concept of multitasking when studying or driving have has negative impacts. The research shows that students can not help themselves when their phones go off. When doing a task or activity it is better to stay away from phones, devices, and music. I am researching this topic because i want to know how multitasking can affects a person's grades and also everyday life. I also want to learn through this project if females actually are better multitaskers than males. Through my science fair project I want to see whether listening to music or playing on your phone causes people to have a lower attention span and lower grades.