Georgetown study finds intensive practice enables multitasking for trained skills
Turns out, multitasking might not be a total myth after all.
A new Georgetown University study found that with enough practice, our brains can actually perform two tasks at the same time pretty smoothly.
The key? Doing something so many times that it becomes second nature: think of how driving or texting gets easier the more you do it.
Participants' scans show circuit shift
In the study, people played a smartphone game over 30,000 times over five to 10 weeks.
Brain scans showed that as they practiced, their brains stopped relying so much on the thinking part (the prefrontal cortex) and started using other circuits instead.
Lead researcher Maximilian Riesenhuber explained this shift is what makes real multitasking possible, but only for skills you've seriously drilled.
These findings could help us understand how we build habits and even inspire smarter AI in the future.