Can your brain only focus on one thing at a time?

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anbuend
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09 Mar 2011, 12:16 pm

From appearances, yes, only one thing at a time.

But I don't know if that's what's really happening, both for me and for a lot of other people who think we're monochanneled.

What if the issue isn't that we can't multitask. But rather that for us, what other people call "one single thing" is actually six different things, that we use up all our multitasking ability on.

I don't know one way or the other but it's an interesting question.


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Nikki82
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09 Mar 2011, 2:32 pm

I cannot multi-task and can only focus on one thing at a time. The background noise gets to me and i can't seem to block it out, i even repeat what i hear in the background when i am talking to someone. I am diagnosed with ADHD combined type, along with other disorders. Sometimes i can't even focus on the one thing i am supposed to be focused on and i zone out.



Moog
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09 Mar 2011, 6:06 pm

I am rather of the opinion that multi channeled multi tasking probably doesn't exist. There's one 'stream' of attention, and people who can 'multi task' are simply much better at switching between several things in that stream.

This is not a scientific opinion, but it is a guess.


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sandrana
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09 Mar 2011, 6:26 pm

JetLag wrote:
When I attempt to multi-task, or when a situation forces me to multi-task, my brain pretty much freezes up. I believe that the word used for being able to concentrate or to focus on only one task at a time is "monotropism," which is usually a part of the spectrum.


If you were able to focus and do that one thing at a time with care and at your leisure, would it matter that you could only do one thing at a time? I discovered I can't get any reading done if anyone else is home. I'd be able to read the words and claim to have read the book, but nothing would really sink in. Now, I wait til those rare times when I'm home alone and then dig out my latest book or article and make a cup of tea and take 20 minutes or so to just enjoy...

I'm capable of up to one thing at a time :)



auntblabby
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09 Mar 2011, 11:33 pm

Moog wrote:
I am rather of the opinion that multi channeled multi tasking probably doesn't exist. There's one 'stream' of attention, and people who can 'multi task' are simply much better at switching between several things in that stream. This is not a scientific opinion, but it is a guess.


theatrical organists and drummers both must truly multitask- the drummer, especially the drummer who is polyrhythmic, must make each limb do something different simultaneously, at different rhythms and tempos. theatrical organists do likewise, and in one additional step of complexity over the drummer, must use "second touches" to play yet another layer of rhythmic/melodic counterpoint overlaying the rest of what they are doing, on the pedalboard and manuals at once. listen to recordings of the superb english theatical organist sydney torch for evidence of this. mere multithreading won't accomodate such complex physical/cognitive functioning, as there are too many separate simultaneous tasks going on. for another example in a non-musical field, UN translators must simultaneously listen and translate [2 separate skillsets] anything that is put in front to them, without fail. if all this isn't multitasking, then nothing is. army psychologist lewis terman described such giftedness in his longitudinal studies of highly intelligent people, in his book, "the gifted."



Bluefins
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10 Mar 2011, 12:51 am

Well, I can drum just fine. But I can only read / listen to one person at a time, and can only think about one problem at a time, at most having the other subconciously processed in that "think of something else and you'll remember it" way.

I like Anbuends theory.



DoniiMann
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13 Mar 2011, 12:43 am

To me it comes down to mental noise and attention. I used to solo manage a floor in a recycling center. I ran three presses, stacking and sorting. Often so busy that I'd skip lunch breaks just to keep ahead. A little stress due to the effort, but not much confusion.

However, simply having someone use a lot of words while talking AT me... can be nasty confusing. Probably because I'd rather be concentrating on my own interests rather than what someone else thinks I need to hear.

So I find that multi-tasking within my comfort zone poses less problems than mono-tasking if I don't want to be there.

That said though, all other things being equal, I'd rather just be comfortable.

Unfortunately life begins where the comfort zone ends.


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