This article examines the cognitive processes involved in multitasking - carrying out more than one activity at one time. Researchers have concluded that the brain is not able to function equally well for each activity, resulting in a poorer performance overall or prioritisation of the tasks. Limitations include delay in identifying what is seen, short-term visual memory, capacity, and the effort needed to select a response to a stimulus. Other researchers suggest that some people have brains that can be trained to execute two tasks simultaneously, but constant practice is required to achieve this. There appear to be no researchers who believe that driving can be safely carried out alongside a phone conversation, even if the equipment is hands-free. Age is also found to affect adversely the ability to multitask.
Abstract