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What else are you doing while reading this?
Researchers at the Federal Aviation Administration and the University of Michigan report that doing two or more things at once may decrease efficiency and actually take extra time switching from one task to another. In the most severe cases, it can even mean the difference between life and death.
"[People] get tired when they're trying to multitask," and in some cases a person could ultimately create more work for himself, according to one of the lead authors, David Meyer, of the university's psychology department.
In the study, four groups of young adults carried out a series of tasks and switched between different tasks, some complicated, such as solving math problems, and some more familiar, such as identifying geometric shapes.
The researchers found that time was lost in just switching from one task to another, and that time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks. The subjects got "up to speed" faster when they switched to tasks that were familiar.
When people, say, juggle browsing the Web and using other computer programs, or talk on the phone while driving, they are using their "executive control" processes in their brain, the researchers said. Those processes can be likened to the mental CEO, the part of the brain associated with establishing priorities among tasks and allocating resources to them.
"For each aspect of human performance - perceiving, thinking and acting - people have specific mental resources whose effective use requires supervision through executive mental control," said Meyer in materials provided with the report.
So called "multitasking" is becoming increasingly common because of cell phones and computers, the researchers point out, but it may just be adding wasted time and inefficiency to our days.
A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cell phone, Meyer said.
The authors say the research should make employers and employees think twice before implementing multitasking.
(Agencies)
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在閱讀這篇文章的時(shí)候你手頭還在忙著什么別的事情？
美國(guó)聯(lián)邦航天署和密歇根大學(xué)研究人員發(fā)表的報(bào)告顯示，一個(gè)人同時(shí)做兩件或更多的事情會(huì)降低工作效率，而從一件事情轉(zhuǎn)換到另外一件事情的過(guò)程中也會(huì)花掉很多的時(shí)間。情況嚴(yán)重的話，"一心二用"甚至還可能導(dǎo)致喪命！
密歇根大學(xué)心理學(xué)系戴維-邁耶是研究牽頭人之一，他指出："如果人們同時(shí)處理許多項(xiàng)任務(wù)，就會(huì)變得非常疲勞。" 有時(shí)候這么做非但不能節(jié)約時(shí)間反而會(huì)增大工作量。
在研究實(shí)驗(yàn)中，四組年輕人同時(shí)要完成一系列任務(wù)并在不同任務(wù)間進(jìn)行轉(zhuǎn)換。這些任務(wù)中，有些比較復(fù)雜，如完成數(shù)學(xué)題，有些則較為簡(jiǎn)單，如識(shí)別幾何圖形。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)變換工作浪費(fèi)了許多時(shí)間，而且越是復(fù)雜的任務(wù)之間的轉(zhuǎn)換，浪費(fèi)的時(shí)間越多。但是如果參加實(shí)驗(yàn)者換到自己較為熟悉的任務(wù)，則所用的時(shí)間要少得多。
研究人員指出，人們一邊上網(wǎng)一邊進(jìn)行其他電腦程序操作，或者邊開(kāi)車(chē)邊打電話時(shí)，他們的大腦處于"執(zhí)行控制"過(guò)程中。這種過(guò)程好比是大腦活動(dòng)的首席執(zhí)行官，其功能在于確定哪些任務(wù)應(yīng)優(yōu)先解決，并為其分配大腦資源。
邁耶在其研究材料里說(shuō)："人類的任何一項(xiàng)活動(dòng)，觀察，思考或行動(dòng)，都需要腦力資源的配給。而這種資源的使用效率需要通過(guò)腦力執(zhí)行控制過(guò)程來(lái)監(jiān)督。"
研究人員還指出，隨著手機(jī)和電腦的日益普及，人們同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)的現(xiàn)象也將日趨普遍。但這也許是意味著我們將要浪費(fèi)更多的時(shí)間和降低工作效率。
邁耶稱，對(duì)一位驅(qū)車(chē)駕駛過(guò)程中打手機(jī)的司機(jī)而言，在任務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)換過(guò)程中，半秒鐘的時(shí)間延誤就能決定他的生死存亡。
實(shí)驗(yàn)組織者稱這項(xiàng)研究旨在讓老板們和員工在選擇同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)時(shí)要三思而后行。
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯）
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Updated: 2001-08-13 01:00
