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Instructor/Advisor

Michael Stroud

Keywords

Attention, Multitasking, Distraction

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of multitasking on reaction time and task performance. 20 Undergraduate Merrimack students from Merrimack College participated, completing a Flanker Task with an added distractor. In Experiment 1, participants verbally indicated seeing a red dot while responding to stimuli by pressing keys. In Experiment 2, participants raised their right hand upon hearing a buzzer while completing the same task. Reaction times and responses were recorded using SuperLab with millisecond precision. The hypothesis was that multitasking between two tasks is ineffective, expecting performance to decline with added cognitive or physical demands. Results show increased reaction times and errors in the presence of distractors, supporting the hypothesis that the human brain struggles to effectively manage simultaneous tasks.

Is Multitasking Possible?

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