2. WHAT THEN IS MULI-TASKING?
MULTITASKING : IT REFERS TO THE CONCURRENT PERFORMANCE OF
AT LEAST TWO TASKS. THIS COVERS A RANGE OF SITUATIONS, SUCH
AS THE TEMPORALLY OVERLAPPING PERFORMANCE OF TWO OR MORE
TASKS (E.G. DRIVING WHILE TALKING ON THE PHONE; OFTEN ALSO
CALLED DUAL-TASKING),BUT ALSO THE FREQUENT SWITCHING
BETWEEN TASKS, EVEN IF AT A SINGLE POINT IN TIME ONLY ONE TASK
IS PERFORMED(E.G. CONSTANTLY SWITCHING BETWEEN WRITING
EMAILS AND ANSWERING PHONE CALLS; OFTEN ALSO CALLED TASK
SWITCHING).
3. INTRODUCTION
OVER THE YEARS, A STEREOTYPE CLAIMING THAT WOMEN ARE BETTER AT
MULTITASKING THAN MEN HAS COME TO BE ADOPTED AS TRUE.
THIS BELIEF IS NOT ENTIRELY TRUE CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE ON SEX DIFFERENCES THAT EXIST IN MULTITASKING IS MIXED.
SOME OF THE STUDIES THAT EXIST ON THIS PARTICULAR TOPIC HAVE FOCUSED
ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE MULTITASKING SKILL THAT HAVE APPEARED TO
SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT WOMEN ARE BETTER WHILE OTHERS HAVE FOUND
COMPLETELY NO EVIDENCE SHOWING ANY GENDER DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN
AND WOMEN.
WHILE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR WOMEN OUTPERFORMING MEN IN
MULTITASKING HAS BEEN SPARSE, RESEARCHERS HAVE SHOWN THAT WOMEN ARE
INVOLVED MORE IN MULTITASKING THAN MEN, FOR INSTANCE IN HOUSEHOLD
TASKS (OFFER & SCHNEIDER, 2011; SAYER, 2007).
4. SEX-RELATED DIFFRENCES IN TASK SWITCHING- AN
FMRI STUDY
• OBJECTIVE -TO ANALYZE THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF VISUAL TASK SWITCHING IN MEN AND WOMEN USING FMRI AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS.
• SAMPLE - 70 – 36 MALES AND 34 FEMALES
• METHOD- VISUAL SWITCHING TASK USED IN THE FMRI STUDY. THE TASK CONSISTED OF TWO TYPES OF BLOCKS: THE EXPERIMENTAL
BLOCK REQUIRING THE SUBJECTS TO SWITCH ATTENTION FROM ONE CONDITION OF THE TASK TO ANOTHER CONDITION AND THE
CONTROL BLOCK NOT REQUIRING ATTENTION SWITCHING AND LIMITED TO FULFILLMENT OF THE COMMANDS GIVEN ON THE SCREEN.
WHICH TOOK 12MINS 9S
• RESULT - THE FMRI STUDY REVEALED THAT A NEURONAL NETWORK CONTROLLING TASK SWITCHING IN WOMEN INCLUDES THE
DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL AND INFERIOR PARIETAL CORTICAL AREAS, AS WELL AS THE SECONDARY AREAS OF THE VISUAL CORTEX IN
THE LEFT HEMISPHERE (LH) AND THE RIGHT HEMISPHERE (RH), AND CORTICAL AREAS OF THE LEFT AND RIGHT HEMISPHERES OF THE
CEREBELLUM.
• THE SAME AREAS WERE ACTIVATED IN MEN AND ADDITIONAL SITES OF ACTIVATION WERE DETECTED IN THE SUPPLEMENTARY MOTOR
AREA, RIGHT INSULA, AND LEFT THALAMUS
• CONCLUSIONS - AN INCREASED ACTIVATION IN THE DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL AREA AND SUPPLEMENTARY MOTOR CORTEX DURING A
TS OBSERVED IN MEN AS COMPARED TO WOMEN MAY BE EVIDENT OF GREATER COMPLEXITY OF THIS TASK FOR MEN AND LOWER
AUTOMATICITY OF PERFORMING THE TASK. THUS, A HIGHER DEGREE OF ACTIVATION AND THE RECRUITMENT OF ADDITIONAL BRAIN
AREAS USUALLY ACCOMPANY THE INCREASE IN TASK DIFFICULTY IN NEUROIMAGING STUDIES
5. STUDIES THAT DO NOT SUPPORT THIS
NOTION
• PUTTING A STEREOTYPE TO THE TEST: THE CASE OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN
MULTITASKING COSTS IN TASK-SWITCHING AND DUAL-TASK SITUATIONS
• A STUDY CONDUCTED IN GERMANY BY A TEAM LED BY PATRICIA HIRSCH OF
AACHEN UNIVERSITY RECRUITED 48 MEN AND 48 WOMEN FROM TWO
UNIVERSITIES.
• THE PARTICIPANTS SELECTED WERE SIMILAR IN TERMS OF AGE, THEIR PHYSICAL
AND MENTAL PROFILES.
• THIS STUDY FOUND THAT THERE EXISTED SOME GENDER DIFFERENCES WHERE
WOMEN DO PROCESS INFORMATION FASTER THAN MEN TO SOME EXTENT, WHILE
MEN WERE BETTER AT TASKS THAT WERE SPATIAL RELATED.
• IT WAS HOWEVER NOT ESTABLISHED THAT EITHER MEN OR WOMEN WERE BETTER
6. Our idea with the present study was simple yet rare in the scientific literature: to use a
validated task to assess whether there are gender differences in multitasking abilities in
an everyday scenario in the general population. In order to do so, we recruited 66
females and 82 males aged between 18 and 60 years old and we asked them to carry
out the CMPT. Thereafter, we compared the performance of both groups on several
variables from the CMPT: overall accuracy of task completion (e.g., have participants
placed the required objects on the table?), total time taken to complete the task, total
distance traveled in the virtual environment, whether participants forgot to carry out tasks,
and whether they managed the interrupting events (such as the phone call) in an optimal
manner. We found no differences between men and women in terms of serial
multitasking abilities.
7. THE PICTURE THAT REVEALS WHY MEN AND WOMEN'S BRAINS REALLY ARE
DIFFERENT: THE CONNECTIONS THAT MEAN GIRLS ARE MADE FOR MULTI-
TASKING
• ANOTHER STUDY REVEALED HOW SCIENTISTS USED MRI IMAGING TO SCAN THE BRAINS OF
YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN. THE SCIENTISTS SCANNED THE BRAINS OF 949 YOUNG MEN AND
WOMEN IN THE BIGGEST INVESTIGATION OF ITS KIND TO DATE.
• MALE BRAINS ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE THEM BETTER AT CARRYING OUT SINGLE TASKS
• WHILE FEMALE BRAINS ARE DESIGNED TO CARRY OUT MANY TASKS SIMULTANEOUSLY
• WOMEN ARE ALSO BETTER AT SOCIALIZING IN BUSY SITUATIONS, CLAIMS THE STUDY
8. PHOTO ISSUED BY NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF BRAIN NETWORKS SHOWING
SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED WITHIN HEMISPHERES IN MALES (UPPER) AND BETWEEN HEMISPHERES
IN FEMALES (LOWER
9. CONT.
• THE SCIENTISTS FOUND OUT THAT THE FEMALE BRAIN IS ‘HARD-WIRED’ TO BE
BETTER AT MULTITASKING.
• THEN THE MEN’S BRAINS, IN COMPARISON, ARE BETTER AT CONCENTRATING ON
SINGLE COMPLEX TASKS – WHETHER IT BE READING A MAP OR COOKING A MEAL.
10. CONCLUSION
• The researchers in the studies reviewed by the group concluded that, there is a strong evidence
supporting a gender stereotype in multitasking abilities: A considerable proportion of participants from a
variety of countries believe that women are better at multitasking than men. This stereotype exists despite
the absence of strong empirical data which would justify such a belief.
SO WHY THE STEREOTYPE?
• According to earl K.Miller, a professor of neuroscience at the massachusetts institute of technology, said
that "the stereotype surrounding women could be due to perception based on the need to do multiple
things at once. It is probably due to the fact that women typically have more demand on them."
11. References
Kuptsova SV, Ivanova MV, Petrushevskiy MV et al. Sex- and age-related characteristics of brain
functioning during task switching (fMRI study). Human Physiology. 2016.
Mäntylä T. Gender differences in multitasking reflect spatial ability. Psychol Sci.
2013;24(4):514-520. doi:10.1177/0956797612459660
Offer, S., & Schneider, B. (2011). Revisiting the gender gap in time-use patterns:multitasking
and well-being among mothers and fathers in dual-earner families. American Sociological
Review, 76(6), 809–833.
Sayer, L.C. (2007). Gender differences in the relationship between long employment hours and
multitasking. In BA Rubin (Ed.), Workplace Temporalities (Research in the Sociology of Work)
(pp. 403–435). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
12. Spencer B. The picture that reveals why men and women's brains really ARE different: The
connections that mean girls are made for multi-tasking. Daily Mail. 2013 Available:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ science tech/article-2516990/ Sorry-chaps-brains-arent-multi-tasking-
But-women-hard-wired-jugglejobs. html. Accessed 2015 May 20.
Stoet, G., O’Connor, D., Conner, M., & Laws, K. (2013). Are women better than men at multi-
tasking?. BMC Psychology, 1(1). doi: 10.1186/2050-7283-1-18
Szameitat AJ, Hamaida Y, Tulley RS, Saylik R, Otermans PCJ(2015) “Women Are Better Than
Men”– Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking .PLOS ONE 10 (10):
e0140371.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140371
