Can Aspies multitask?
I really think that you are insisting on reading more into the definition than is meant to be there.
Doing two tasks at the same time does not mean that you are doing two things together. The "same time" is more of a loose "same time" rather than a tight "same time". Switching back and forth between tasks so that both can be accomplished at the same time IS multitasking.
I think that one of the earliest examples of multitasking was for a computer to be able to print while executing a user's program. The computer's CPU did not do both at once but was able to switch back and forth. It would allocate the time necessary to send text to the printer and to control the printer and then switch back to the user program.
That is not unlike actions of musicians and athletes. The brain my tell the body to perform an action and then deal with other matters.
I used to follow the work of a medical researcher named Susan Harkema quite closely. In the 1990s while she was at UCLA Medical School (if I remember correctly), she was working with people who were paralyzed. In particular, she was working to train their legs to be able to make stepping motions and to build up the capability of carrying some of the weight to walk even though the person's brain had very little or no control at all over the legs. The results were pretty good. The fact is that there is more processing power than you would imagine for such actions that do not require constant monitoring by the brain.
The same goes for things like playing music. An experienced guitarist doesn't consciously think of every action. Rather, their brain gives the basic instructions to the arms and fingers and they are carried out with little further action by the brain although it will monitor it to a degree. After giving those basic instructions to the arms and fingers it can then switch to other tasks and is able to do so by a great deal of practice performing the same actions over and over again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/weeki ... .html?_r=0
Exactly! and that is where aspies are too slow.
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Femaline
Special Interest: Beethoven
