Multitasking Splits the Brain - ScienceNOW
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/multitasking-splits-the-brain.html?rss=1

• When the brain tries to do two things at once, it divides and conquers, dedicating one-half of our gray matter to each task, new research shows
• The work also reveals that the brain can’t effectively handle more than two complex, related activities at once.
• When it comes to task management, the prefrontal cortex is key.
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  Going halvsies. When tackling tasks A and B simultaneously, half of the brain handles A (red) while the other handles B (yellow).

  
  

  Credit: Etienne Koechlin, INSERM-ENS

  
  
• the brain can’t efficiently juggle more than two tasks because it has only two hemispheres available for task management.
• This shows there are conditions in which you can’t add a third task, but it depends on the type of task and whether it draws on other parts of the brain,”
• he finds the dual-task division of labor “novel and exciting.”
• The study illustrates our striking lack of knowledge about how the brain’s hemispheres organize themselves, he says. “I wouldn’t have bet multitasking worked this way.”’

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