User:Makaylahatt11/sandbox

(Research Section) Some experiments have been done that demonstrate that it is possible to divide one’s attention among several tasks, how successfully depends on several factors such as how much practice one has with it or the difficulty of the task. Walter Schneider and Robert Shiffrin performed an experiment in which they presented the participants with a memory set, which consists of target stimuli such as the number three. After being presented with the memory set the were rapidly shown 20 test frames which contained distractor stimuli. One of the slides they were shown contained one of the target stimuli from the memory set. With each trial a new memory set and new test frames were presented. At the start of the experiment participants averaged 55% in correctly identifying the target stimuli from the memory set. After 900 trials the participants were able to bring the average up to 90%. They reported that after about 600 trials the task became automatic and they were able to respond without thinking about it.

When studying the costs of multitasking there are typically two designs for or types of multitasking that are examined, task switching and dual tasking. Task switching involves shifting one’s attention from one thing to another. Dual tasking, on the other hand, is when attention is divided among multiple things at once. Studies have been done to specifically examine the brain when one is engaged in either type of multitasking. Through the use of MRI brain scans researchers have found that frontoparietal regions are activated which would include the inferior frontal junction and the posterior parietal cortex (C. Kim, S.E. Cilles, N.F. Johnson, B.T. Gold Domain general and domain preferential brain regions associated with different types of task switching: a Meta-Analysis Hum. Brain Mapp., 33 (1) (2012), pp. 130-142 https://doi-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/hbm.21199)(F.R. Richter, N. Yeung Neuroimaging studies of task switching Task Switching and Cognitive Control, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, US (2014), pp. 237-271 https://doi-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199921959.003.0010). They also found that while each type of tasking uses different mechanisms there are also some underlying mechanisms and resources that they share (P. Hirsch, S. Nolden, M. Declerck, I. Koch Common cognitive control processes underlying performance in task-switching and dual-task contexts Adv. Cognit. Psychol. (2018), pp. 62-74 https://doi-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.5709/acp-0239-y).

(Sex Differences in Multitaksing) One theory that proposes an explanation for why there may be gender differences in multitasking is the hunter-gatherer theory proposed by Silverman and Eals in accordance with a multitasking experiment they conducted in 1992. Their theory states that men and women's cognitive abilities evolved differently based on the hunter-gatherer tasks they performed in the past. In a study that looked at sex differences in spatial abilities in 40 countries they found that men scored higher on tests of multidimensional mental rotations and women scored higher in object location memory, as the experimenters predicted (Silverman 2007).