Multitasking + Gender
"The idea that women are better multitaskers than men has reached the status of conventional wisdom. But it may also
be wrong."
--Robert Shmerling, "The Myth of Multitasking"
be wrong."
--Robert Shmerling, "The Myth of Multitasking"
Men.
It is generally accepted that men are mentally better suited for focusing on single tasks. However, Schmerling cites a recent Psychological Science study showed that men were better at multitasking than women thanks to superior spatial ability. |
Women.
Urban legends say women's brains are wired for multitasking, possibly to account for paying attention to multiple children at once. Multiple studies have also found that women were better at and more likely to engage in multitasking than men, including this Mythbusters test. |
"Taken together, it seems that a person's ability to multitask might be affected by a number of factors including gender, phase of the menstrual cycle, cognitive capacity (especially executive function and spatial ability), and the type of task performed."
--Robert Shmerling, "The Myth of Multitasking"
--Robert Shmerling, "The Myth of Multitasking"