Is multitasking good or bad for our brain? Is it productive and effective?

What is multitasking? What does multitasking do to the human brain of a man and a woman? How to get better? Today we have to do several things at the same time every day, and this is not our choice, but a necessity. If we talk about multitasking at work, then there are both supporters and opponents of this idea. The latter more often speak about the decrease in the effectiveness of each of the tasks performed due to constant switching and immersion in each task.

Switching attention is one of the properties of the cognitive function that can be developed. Cognitive training will help teach the brain to switch between tasks quickly, and scientists from the University of Montreal have found a brain area responsible for multitasking.

The prefrontal area allows us to do several things at the same time, but its activity deteriorates with age. A study by Sylvie Belleville showed that certain workouts can improve the performance of this brain region. 48 older people were asked to learn something simple or work at the same time on plastics and control their attention. The second group showed the best results in multitasking. Observations in this research were carried out using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

However, simply performing two tasks at the same time does not develop the multitasking skill, the research only shows that depending on the type of cognitive training, one or another effect is achieved. The results of the work of scientists will improve existing training, develop fundamentally new, as well as help the elderly and people with impaired brain functions to improve the quality of life.