mca blog

i heard a fascinating radio interview with Dr. David E. Meyer concerning how the brain multi-tasks. in the interview, he outlined a simple test to show you how your brain works when multi-tasking. it requires a deck of cars, four large coins, a stop watch and a couple minutes. the results were very enlightening.

bottom-line. the brain takes a heavy hit when working on multi-tasking projects. learning this leads me to believe there is very little efficiency and possible even less effectiveness for attempting multiple things at once.

here's the complete set of instructions for the test:

Dr. Meyer’s multitasking Experiment

You’ll need a deck of cards and four quarters. Before you begin, pull all the 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s
from the deck and set the rest of the cards aside.

To start, place the seven of clubs to the left, the nine of hearts a half inch beside the seven to
the right, then the six of spades, and finally the eight of hearts. Place each of the quarters about
three inches below the row of cards in an even row. The quarters should be three inches from the 
edge of the table.

Part One. Numbers: Take the remaining 12 cards and shuffle them. Holding them face down, turn them 
over one by one, placing the sixes on the quarter below the six of spades, the sevens on the quarter
below the seven of clubs, the eights below the eight and so on, saying the numbers as you place 
hem.

How much time did it take?


Part Two. Suits: Shuffle the cards again. Holding them face down, turn them over one by one, this
time sorting the cards by suit. You’ll put all the clubs below the club, all the hearts below the
heart, etc., until you’ve gone through all twelve cards, saying the suits as you place them.

Again, how long did you need?

Part Three. Numbers and Suits Shuffle the cards one more time. Holding them face down, you will turn
them over once again one by one. But this time, you will alternate between sorting by number and
sorting by suit, starting with numbers. So, you will place the first card by its number, the second
card by its suit, the third card by its number and so on until all twelve cards have been played. Be
sure to announce the card as you place it.

If you’re like Dr. Kramer, you will spend a lot more time sorting by numbers and suits than you did
using only one criterion.