DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

"We don't do things simultaneously. The fact is that we move back and forth between the cognitive processes in the space of a hundred milliseconds or less." Thus decisions are actually made sequentially, says the scientist. "If we have too much variety, we cannot concentrate properly on one task."

That is a problem that has not escaped the attention of employers, particularly in the modern, computer-oriented office environment. The necessity to 'zap' between mental problems can cause stress, concentration deficit and extreme curtailment of efficient work phases. All of this may affect productivity. Some companies have begun to address the issue of how to help workers use new communication media productively without overtaxing them or wasting their time.

________________________________________________

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

The test seems simple enough: drive and perform another minor task simultaneously – like tuning a radio, for instance. It may be child’s play, but not behind the wheel. Or talking on the phone. A lot of people do it, but it can have fatal consequences. In half of all accidents, according to statistics, the driver was distracted.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

Stefan Mattes, a psychologist at car manufacturer Daimler, says drivers are frequently overwhelmed by unimportant secondary activities:

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

"Our main task is to drive the car – that is, to steer, drive straight, or turn. Then there are additional essential tasks like using the blinker or adjusting the ventilation. And then come the other things – like talking to passengers, taking a phone call, adjusting the radio and so forth. What we have here is really an infinitely complex situation."

Multitasking is the term used when we drive and simultaneously try to read a street map, for instance. We can see how that causes our risk of an accident to rise sharply.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

The test person’s brake reaction time – seen here in red - is much longer compared with the idealized green path with no distractions.

However many drivers continue to do all sorts of things while they are driving, convinced that they can master the job of multitasking. But researchers say that is an illusion – and not only in traffic.

Take office-work, where multitasking is part of daily life, as Professor Iring Koch, psychologist at Aachen University well knows. Whether it’s a phone call, or a colleague with a question, the psychologist has to react to numerous demands at once. His research focuses on the question of how well people actually do deal with multitasking.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

Koch's team hopes a new experiment will provide an answer. The test subject is supposed to react to an audio signal by looking in the direction the sound comes from. The researchers follow her eye movements with a camera. When she hears a sound in her right ear, she focuses on the point on the right of the monitor. Now she’s given another thing to do. This is a simple multi-task situation.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

As well as moving her eyes, she has to press a key on the right or left. The result is: the test subject cannot consciously move her eyes and press the key simultaneously – only sequentially. For our brain there is no such thing as simultaneity. During each conscious act of seeing, hearing or feeling a certain region of the brain is active – the others remain passive.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

Iring Koch: "It’s actually the case that we are not really doing things simultaneously, but that we actually constantly switch back and forth between the individual tasks, between the cognitive processes. We’re talking about time intervals of a hundred milliseconds or less. So we’re not really having two reactions or making two decisions at the same time, but first one and then the other - in sequence."

And that can have dramatic consequences when we're driving a car. In traffic there are so many stimuli that require our attention and reactions. So technology needs to be designed to distract us as little as possible from the road.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

In another experiment the test subject is trying to pick the largest circle on a monitor next to the steering wheel. This is an important test; it will help select an optimal character size for a navigation device.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

Back at the office, employers expect workers to multi-task, rapidly switching between phone calls, e-mail and other communication media to save time and be more efficient. But does that really work?

Iring Koch, Psychologist, Aachen University: "If you have too much going on at once - too much alternation - you won’t be able to concentrate well enough on one task, so the time needed to perform that task will probably increase considerably, compared to performing it in one go."

Multitasking - like the kind that is usual in call centers, for example - can be highly inefficient. A US study put the economic cost of multitasking at several billion dollars. And that doesn't take into account the health risks due to increased stress.

Iring Koch: "We see that multitasking is not necessarily a good thing. People who claim to be good "multi-taskers" are not necessarily the ones who perform the best."

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  

Driving technology can help overcome some of our inability to truly multi-task. For instance, by making the car brake automatically. That is possible thanks to a camera system that recognizes human silhouettes in the driver’s visual field.

But our brains will always have the final say in the assessment of near-simultaneous tasks. Despite all the technology in the world, the human factor is irreplaceable. After all, we’re the ones who have to take responsibility for our actions.