Multitasking: what it is and what it means

Cognitive multitasking is the apparent practice of performing several tasks that require attention at the same time, which in reality produces rapid task switching: moving quickly back and forth between tasks, each time paying a cost in recovery time and attention residue. It does not speed up work: research shows that heavy multitaskers perform worse on tasks that require cognitive filtering, compensating with an apparent speed that is paid for in quality and stress.

Distinctive: rapid task switching
Distinctive: moving quickly back and forth between tasks
Essential: each time paying a cost in recovery time
Constant: it does not speed up work

Glossary

Multitasking

The apparent practice of performing several cognitive tasks at once, which in reality produces rapid task switching with measurable performance costs.