Question: How does cognitive load theory relate to the ability to multitask?
In the Rosen article, the author addressed several concerns in regards to multitasking, including studies on how multitasking could lead to health issues, less productivity and the inability to retrieve learned material easily. Rosen made an excellent point in regards to attention in this statement, "When we talk about multitasking, we are really talking about attention: the art of paying attention, the ability to shift our attention, and, more broadly, to exercise judgment about what objects are worthy of our attention" (p. 109).
As people watch TV, play a computer game and instant message a friend, they are shifting their attention from one object to another. I have done this myself, not really paying complete attention to all three things at once, but shifting my attention to be able to juggle all three events at the same time and keep up with them. However, I could not multitask and read our William James book for class. Due do the complexity of the text, I had to focus and think about each sentence. If my husband or daughters asked me a question while reading, I often went back to the beginning of the paragraph to reread. Reading that text, initially provided some cognitive demand for me. Perhaps, William James would agree. Our attention is one stream and not a small group of meandering creeks clustered together.
I found this great video on multitasking and the brain, providing some explaination of the physical process our bodies go through when we work on two tasks at once:
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