Multitasking(多任务) affects the brain, research suggests, and it could be damaging your career. A new study found that men and women who frequently used several types of technology at the same time had less grey matter(灰质) in a key part of the brain.
University of Sussex researchers said: “Using mobile phones, laptops and other media devices at the same time could be changing the structure of our brains.” Worryingly, the part of the brain that shrinks is involved in processing emotion. The finding follows research which has linked multitasking with a poor attention, depression, anxiety and lower grades at school.
The researchers began by asking 75 healthy men and women how often they divided their attention between different types of technology. This could mean sending a text message while listening to music and checking emails, or speaking on the phone while watching TV and surfing the web. The volunteers were then given brain scans which showed they had less of grey matter. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first to make a link between multitasking and the structure of the brain.
Researcher Kep Kee Loh said: “Media multitasking is becoming more common in our lives today and there is increasing concern about its influences on our cognition(认知) and social-emotional well-being.” He added that more research is needed to prove that multitasking shrinks the brain. This is because it is also possible that people with less grey matter are more drawn to using lots of devices at the same time. Scientists have previously proved brain structure can be changed on long exposure to new environments and experience. Other studies have shown that training---such as learning to juggle or taxi drivers learning the map of London -- can increase grey-matter densities(密度) in certain parts.