Who Makes the Best Multitasker?

Overview

Objectives/Goals This study tested if gender, piano playing, use of T.V. use of the computer, or use of texting affects how a person multitasks. Methods/Materials Each test subject filled out a questionnaire and signed a consent form. Next, they completed an online test connected to previous Stanford University research, which had 6 practice problems and 20 scored problems. Results No single category of people were good multitaskers. Each category was just better at one part of multitasking. In other words, if one category was fast to perform a task, they would be slow and less accurate to switch tasks. The best multitasker would be someone with a low switch cost and a low answer time, but no category achieved this. Age, however, did affect the results. For the older test subjects, multitasking or task switching became more costly in terms of time and accuracy. Conclusions/Discussion While it could not be concluded whether gender, piano playing , use of T.V., use of computer, and use of texting affects how one multitasks, age did affect how well the tasks were performed. The younger people were more accurate and time efficient when they switched tasks. In a classroom or other learning environment, teachers could use this knowledge and give their students multiple short activities during the class period, instead of one long activity.

Competition history

• CSEF 2012 Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0725

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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