DEBUNKED: Your Brain Can Multitask

Imagine this setup: You’re trying to study for an important final exam while texting your friends. This setup can be very common under the rationale of “I’m great at multitasking!” Although it would be nice to be able to concentrate on all those tasks at once and save time, this is absolutely false–it actually wastes more time than it saves! Let's break down this myth by explaining where the myth comes from, why it’s biologically impossible, and what the harm that spreading the myth causes. 

The Origin 

The term multitasking originates from computer science in the 1960s.⁽¹⁾ It describes the ability that a computer was able to complete 2 computing or processing tasks at the same time, but this doesn’t translate well to humans.⁽¹⁾ Although there is the analogy that our brain is like a computer with the ability to store a lot of memories and process massive amounts of data, it’s important to understand that this view can be a reductionist view to the reality of our cognitive abilities, which these limitations are demonstrated through our inability to multitask. 

Why the Myth Is Biologically Impossible

Your Brain Is Not Doing Two Things At Once

Although multitasking is the ability to do things at once, our brains aren’t capable of this and provides the misconception on our ability to successfully multitask.⁽²⁾ Instead, people are actually dividing their attention and rapidly switching between the 2 tasks.⁽²⁾ Attention is not an infinite resource where your brain is taking resources away from one source to provide to another, which can result in worse performance.⁽²⁾  

There have been multiple studies examining the neural effects of multitasking. When doing multiple tasks at once, a study using fMRI found that brain activity related to visuospatial and language processing were lower when participants were multitasking compared to doing one task at a time.⁽³⁾ Through studying patients with neural injuries, researchers found that brain systems such as the frontoparietal control, dorsal attention, and ventral attention networks are involved in our ability to complete tasks.⁽⁴⁾ When completing a task, the goal from the frontoparietal control guides top-down attention, which uses pre-existing knowledge and expectations.⁽⁴⁾ The top-down attention becomes mediated by the dorsal attention while the ventral attention interacts with the frontoparietal network to make this happen.⁽⁴⁾  Through having multiple tasks and goals, there can be greater demands for frontoparietal network and dorsal attention that can degrade the performance and capacities.⁽⁴⁾ 

Why the Myth Is Harmful (Beyond Just Being Wrong)

There are various consequences that can occur by believing that you’re good at multitasking. First, it can create impairments in our memory and learning. Continuing the example in our imagined setup, studying while texting your friends leads to not being able to create strong memories on the material that you’re studying because your attention isn’t stable in either of the tasks. Not having these memories can result in poorer recall of the study material, having difficulty in learning the material, and ultimately, not doing well on your final exam. 

Figure 2: Person using phone while driving

Drivers are constantly warned about texting while driving because our brains are able to focus on each of the tasks fully and have worse performance compared to completing the tasks one at a time. Important resources like working memory that are important for keeping a mental representation of the current environment such as surrounding vehicles, traffic signs, and pedestrians, can be impaired through multitasking.⁽⁵⁾ Texting while driving can risk the safety of other drivers, pedestrians, and yourself–your text can wait!

Although it seems that multitasking has become a norm in our society, here are some strategies to break out of this habit. Create an environment or schedule that allows for you to focus your attention. Making a schedule can make sure that people have enough time to complete their tasks and manage their time throughout the week effectively, which could prevent procrastination and trying to complete multiple tasks at once. When blocking out the times for the tasks, make sure to close out tabs unrelated to that task, keep your phone on silent, or don’t bring your headphones if your task doesn’t require audio or listening, in order to not tempt yourself to these distractors. Additionally, try completing work in a room with very little distractions such as a television. It’s important to understand that our brains have limitations and try to work smarter, not harder, by not multitasking!

Sources:

1. Kirschner & Bruyckere (2017) The myths of the digital native and the multitasker 

2. McGrath (2025) Multitasking? Maybe Not. 

3. Newman, Keller & Just (2006) Volitional control of attention and brain activation in dual task performance

4. Madore & Wagner (2019) Multicosts of Multitasking

5. Nijboer et al. (2016) Driving and Multitasking: The Good, the bad, and the dangerous