Multitasking, Stress and Learning
“Neuroscientist Marc Berman and his colleagues have shown that constant stimulation (walking busy city streets, earphones in all the time with music playing, constant texting, phoning, gaming, etc.) exhausts the brain and causes it to perform more poorly on learning and memory tasks. When our brains are exhausted, it is difficult to remember just about anything.” (New Science of Learning, p 115)
- Multitasking creates stress and increases cortisol and adrenaline.
- Cortisol and adrenaline negatively impact the prefrontal cortex.
- The prefrontal cortex is the conscious decision-making part of the brain needed for executive function and self regulation, skills that enable students to plan, focus attention on what they’re supposed to be learning, remember instructions and information and juggle multiple projects successfully.
- The prefrontal cortex is easily distracted because it has a dopamine addiction to multitask because it makes us feel good, but it’s depleting energy through trivial decision-making like deciding whether to re-watch a funny TikTok video, text a friend, or check how many likes I got on my last Instagram.
- Research shows that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the mid 20s.
Now think about first year students, new to the city, bombarded with stimuli, learning to navigate life without family, learning to be college students, with already questionable habits with phones and social media. Consider international students, who find themselves in a new country, and English language learners trying to navigate, understand and communicate in a new language. No wonder first year students have trouble thinking, remembering and making wise decisions.
You can help them by telling them why they’re stressed, the consequences of that stress, and how to make smarter choices:
For students
- You can’t actually do more than one task that requires thinking at a time.
- All you can do is switch from one task to another.
- Switching frequently from one thing to another wastes mental energy.
- “Typically, individuals who shift tasks make 50% more errors and spend at least 50% more time on both tasks.”
- Focusing on one thing at a time simply takes less time.
- “Your brain is at its best when it is focused on one learning task at a time.”
- “One study showed that our brains try to trick us into thinking we can multitask–but we can’t…. Focus on one task at a time, and you’ll do better at each task in much less time.”
- You need to take care of stress: stress exhausts the brain and makes it difficult to make smart decisions.
- All decisions require mental energy.
- Deciding whether to check your phone takes as much energy as deciding to stick with doing the assignment you just started.
- Learn tips for effective time management practices.
Quotes from New Science of Learning, pp 114 -5
Watch these 2-3 minute videos on what’s going on in your brain and why multitasking doesn’t work:
- Just say no to multitasking.
- Myth of Multitasking, the neuroscience behind the myth.
- Feeling Anxious? Blame Multitasking, and learn why. Then watch the companion: the power of single tasking.
- The multitasking myth, also addresses conscious awareness and inattention blindness. A little dated, but still interesting!