Khaberni - The human brain cannot actually accomplish two tasks at the same time even with a lot of training, instead, it processes these tasks sequentially, as usual, according to a study published in the scientific journal "Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology".
During the study, participants handled two sensory tasks at the same time, where they were asked to indicate the size of a circle that briefly appeared using their right hand, and at the same time determine whether the sound they heard was sharp, medium, or low. Their response speed and the number of errors they made were measured. The tests were repeated over several days.
With increased training, participants became faster and made fewer errors. This training effect had long been regarded as evidence that the brain can process tasks in parallel if sufficient training is available.
Psychologist Thorsten Schubert from the University of Halle said: "This phenomenon known as optimal time-sharing had long been considered proof of true parallel processing in the brain and that our brains are capable of multitasking without limits," adding conversely that the new results suggest otherwise.
According to researchers, the brain optimizes the sequence of processing steps so that they do not significantly hinder each other. Schubert stated: "Our brain is very adept at arranging operations one after another," confirming that this optimal sharing has its limits.
The research team also demonstrated that when very minor changes in tasks were made, the error rate increased and participants needed more time to solve them. Twenty-five people participated in three experiments conducted as part of the study.
Psychologist Tilo Strobach from the Medical School Hamburg noted that these results are also significant in everyday life, explaining that multitasking could become a hazard, for example, while driving or in professions that require performing many parallel tasks.
