Are we alone in our inability to multi-task efficiently?
I am able to "multitask" cognitively, not in the NT sense of doing a whole lot of things at once, stirring the soup while talking on the phone while swatting flies sort of thing. I can read a novel and see it visually as well as hear the narrative in mind simultaneously, for example, which is mental multi-processing, or think about two different things at once.
Research on NT multitasking is interesting, in that it works to upvote NT tendencies and downvotes those who function differently. However what is more interesting, is that there is quite a lot of studies that show relatively few NTs can mutlitask well, and the percentage that can really multitask is far lower than the subjects themselves believe.
The area is another example where it is misleading to apply the NT yardsticks to other populations, we need our own yardsticks, to measure our own abilities. But AS people are measured in research always by NT yardsticks, and psychological science has not yet moved beyond this ideological and methodological flaw.
^ Yes I think even I am capable of performing some tasks simultaneously. At work I used to pick one hard task and one easy task, and that worked quite well, as long as neither task hit significant problems. If that happened I would abandon the least important one, though it was often a struggle to let it go. Anyway, it seems useful to define exactly what we mean by multi-tasking, because clearly some tasks are much easier to multi than others. I guess it boils down to which part(s) of the brain are needed for the tasks in question. I can cook a meal while having a conversation about an unrelated subject, as long as I'm so used to cooking that meal that it doesn't require much conscious thought. I can't hold a conversation while cooking a meal I've never cooked before, and if I try, I get nervous and make a mess of both.
I can't see why multi-tasking a single brain is particularly desirable - why not just have more than one brain on the job? Especially when NTs are supposed to be so socially adept and able to co-operate and collaborate. Hmmm.....I wonder if this is something to do with employers going to extreme lengths to drive down labour costs? They always seem to be the ones who want to eliminate as many people as possible and then force the remainder to do several jobs at the same time. And they seem to have a poor track record for taking responsibility for the stress that causes.
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