3 multitasking

• What is the developmental disorder affecting approximately 5% of children?

  Attention-deficit / Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• What percentage of children with ADHD are male?

  70%
• What are the main symptoms of ADHD?

  Frequently in motion, easily distracted
• What factors contribute to resilience in individuals with ADHD?

  Relationships, acceptance, techniques
• What evidence supports the genetic basis of ADHD?

  Clear evidence from multiple studies
• What is multitasking?

  Performing two or more tasks simultaneously
• What is divided attention?

  The ability to respond to multiple tasks simultaneously
• What factors impact divided attention?

  Practice, task difficulty, task similarity
• What did Schneider and Shiffrin (1977) demonstrate about practice?

  Practice improves performance in divided attention tasks
• What was the initial performance percentage in Schneider and Shiffrin's study?

  55%
• What was the performance percentage after 900 trials in Schneider and Shiffrin's study?

  90%
• What did later experiments show about task difficulty in divided attention?

  No automaticity if targets were distractors
• What did McCleod (1977) demonstrate about task similarity?

  Similar tasks increase errors in performance
• What is the cost of multitasking?

  Breakdown of performance in tasks
• What did Strayer and Johnstone (2001) find about mobile phone use while driving?

  Slower response times and missed red lights
• How much does using a mobile phone increase the risk of a collision?

  Quadruples the risk (4.3 times more likely)
• What was the increase in reaction times when using phones according to Caird et al. (2008)?

  Increased by 250ms
• What does a 250ms increase in reaction time translate to at 50mph?

  Traveling an extra 18 feet (5.5m)
• What did Caird et al. (2014) find about texting and driving?

  Adversely affected multiple driving performance aspects
• What did Strayer et al. (2003) find about hands-free phone use while driving?

  Slower response times in high-traffic conditions
• What did Drews et al. (2008) find about conversations with passengers while driving?

  Passengers provide situational awareness
• What did Hyman et al. (2010) find about phone users while walking?

  Walked more slowly and changed directions frequently
• What is task switching?

  Ability to shift attention between tasks
• What is the switching cost in multitasking?

  Slower performance and decreased accuracy
• What did Meyer state about mental blocks from task switching?

  Can cost as much as 40% of productive time
• What characteristics attract some people to multitasking?

  Approach-oriented, high-sensation seekers
• What did the OFCOM report from 2021 reveal about online activity?

  Increased hours spent online multitasking
• What did Ophir et al. (2009) find about heavy media multitaskers?

  More susceptible to interference from stimuli
• What did Loh & Kanai (2014) find about brain structures in media multitaskers?

  Smaller grey matter density in ACC
• What did Misra et al. (2016) study about mobile devices and social interactions?

  Presence of devices reduced conversation quality
• What was the result of Watson & Strayer's (2010) study on multitasking?

  Dual-task performance was inferior to single-task
• What is the belief many people have about multitasking?

  They believe they are exceptions to attention laws
• What should you be able to summarize about divided attention?

  • Define divided attention
  • Identify factors for successful multitasking
  • Understand real-world applications