Only 2% Of People Can Actually Multitask - This Test Will Tell You If You Are One Of Them
Reuters
But there is a small fraction of the population that might be true multitaskers, or "supertaskers," a term coined by David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah who studies attention.
Think you're a supertasker? Skip to the test >>
Not only do these people excel at cognitive tasks in the first place, their performance doesn't suffer in the least when they do different things simultaneously - it sometimes gets better.
For most of us, "our brain can't handle the overload," Strayer told Maria Konnikova of the New Yorker, in a recent story about supertaskers. Strayer has spent his career telling people that they are wrong when they claim they can drive and talk on the phone safely at the same time.
So when he actually encountered someone in a research lab who was simultaneously able to drive, do complex math, and respond to cell phone prompts, his mind was blown.
When his team designed a test that had subjects try not to crash in a driving simulation while performing memory tasks and analyzing math problems, most failed abysmally. But about 2% passed - they matched or even exceeded the way they performed on each individual test beforehand.
Along with psychologists from the University of Newcastle in Australia, Strayer and his team created an online version of the test where you're a bouncer at a club instead of a distracted driver.
It's hard.
And if you think you'll be good at it, brace yourself: According to Strayer's research, the people who think they are the best multitaskers are usually among the worst.
Take the test >>
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- In second consecutive week of decline, forex kitty drops $2.28 bn to $640.33 bn
- SBI Life Q4 profit rises 4% to ₹811 crore
- IMD predicts severe heatwave conditions over East, South Peninsular India for next five days
- COVID lockdown-related school disruptions will continue to worsen students’ exam results into the 2030s: study
- India legend Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 ambassador