Can we “think” about 2 things at once? For example, can anyone do 2 math problems at once? Not do one and keep the other in a buffer, but actually “think” about 2+2 and 4-3 at the same time. And I know that our brains tell us when to breath and beat our hearts and whatnot, thats not what I’m looking for. I can’t seem to be able to do this, can you?
I can type this reply to you while watching Babylon 5 on TNT. It appears as though multi-tasking is possible.
Marc
I once took part in a psych project in college (Go Frostburg State!) that had us try to do several demanding tasks at once. I was able to recite Romeo’s lines from the balcony scene while doing probability functions in my head. I once got up to doing those two and trying to compose haiku as well but it didn’t come out too well.
Does that meet your criteria for multitasking?
FWIW I heard from the prof that the highest he’d seen was a person who could function on five tracks at once.
I often have conversations with someone while typing something completely unrelated at the same time. Many people have commented on how unusual they find this, but I never even thought about it until someone pointed it out.
Also, when I used to bartend, I would listen to one or more complicated drink orders, line up six or seven glasses, and start mixing - all while talking to someone. I didn’t consciously think “okay, first glass is vodka, Kahlua, cream, shake; second glass is gin, cherry brandy, sour mix,” etc. It was sort of like once I heard the order, my arms just moved automatically to the correct bottles and mixers. I never thought that was strange either until people started laying bets as to how many drinks it would take before I got one wrong.
I don’t think people can truly multitask the way I believe you mean. It seems that the examples here are of people doing an ingrained “automatic” task - like reciting a memorized text or transcribing it - while thinking about something else. It seems unusual and surprising to those who haven’t incorporated the automatic skill into their own repertoire.
The easiest example I can think of is all the things people do while driving. They do this by turning the driving over to the “learned response” part of their brains so they don’t have to concentrate completely on it (at least, that’s what I do when I’m barbequeing on the interstate).
The real test is whether someone can think of two entirely new things at once: For instance, do an arithmetic problem fed to them through headphones while at the same time following directions appearing on a screen. The complexity of the problem and the directions should be near the limit of what people can do when they are doing them singly, of course, if this is to be a good test for true multitasking. I don’t know of any such experiments, but I’d be surprised if people tested positive for this ability.
So is the question “can a human do more than one task simultaneously and consciously” or just “…more than one task simultaneously”?
Plenty of evidence that the former is true. Not so sure 'bout the latter.
If we really want to split hairs we could include the autonomic nervous system, too…
I am no computer expert, but when a computer multi-tasks isn’t actually doing only one thing at a time but it so efficiently uses up any “dead” time that it looks like it is doing things simulataneously?
I have noticed that my wife and women in general can multitask better then I or men in general - this has been my experence YMMV
[I am no computer expert, but when a computer multi-tasks isn’t actually doing only one thing at a time but it so efficiently uses up any “dead” time that it looks like it is doing things simulataneously?]
I believe some computers can take difrent threads and work on them concurently, wasn’t what all the hub-bub about the pentium was about? I think the 486 and earlier did one at a time and emulated multitasking by time slicing
I knew of a man who could write on a chalkboard with both hands simultaneously such that the right hand words met the left hand words and made the complete sentence. He could also write separate languages with each hand.
I know that I can have several conversations at once. At one time, I had four different unrelated AIM conversations going on simultaneously*. I could have had more, but I ran out of space on the screen (not to mention people to talk to).
As to someone’s question: Single processor computers “multitask” by interleaving the tasks on the one processor. Only one is actively being worked on by the processor at any one time. Multiprocessor computers can truly multitask.
*Only effectively simultaneously, because I can’t type into 4 windows at once with the keyboard and OS that I have to work with. 
I often do things on the computer while talking
about something totally unrelated, both with
people in the office and on the phone. I can
also be holding a conversation with one person
and also be following another conversation
with two or more people in the office.
That’s the way my brain works.
Would playing the piano while singing qualify?
Man, I have trouble sometimes having my mind stay on one subject. I can be trying to read a book and my mind just cannot concentrate on that and I have to keep going back… I guess I am way below average when compared to the rest of dopers.
OTOH, it is my experience that people who think they can multitask are much worse at it than they think. They are the ones doing something else while you are talking to them and they say “go ahead, I’m listening”. When someone says that it’s your clue that they are not listening. I find it very irritating and I will stop in the middle of a sentence and ask “what did I just say?” Ussually they cannot answer. They are not multitasking, they are just not paying attention.
FWIW, I commonly read a book and watch TV following both plots seamlessly, or so it seems(my wife gets a kick out of this for some reason). And like missbunny, I commonly type and carry on an unrelated conversation. Never really gave it much thought but people constasntly remark on it.