Working memory, fluid intelligence, and impulsiveness in heavy media multitaskers

Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults

“…This suggests that media multitasking might have a negative impact on brain areas involved in attentional control. It is important to note, however, that an extensive follow-up study (Minear et al, 2013) failed to replicate the results of Ophir and colleagues (2009), and that a recent study failed to find evidence for a relationship between the amount of daily media multitasking activity and the ability to sustain attention (Ralph et al, 2015). These contradictory findings were the motivation for the current study.…”

“…Furthermore, according to the results of Alzahabi and Becker (2013) as well as those of Sanbonmatsu and colleagues (2013), media multitaskers exhibit declined performance on actual tests of multitasking. Recent studies have also shown that multitasking behavior is positively correlated with higher self-reported impulsivity (Minear et al, 2013;Yang and Zhu, 2015;Uncapher et al, 2015), suggesting that decreased executive control may lead to a tendency to multitask while using technology, or vice versa. Media multitasking has also been shown to be associated with a decrease in grey matter volume in frontal brain regions (in the anterior cingulate cortex; Loh and Kanai, 2014) belonging to the executive attention network (Bush et al, 2000).…”

“…Furthermore, we extend these findings to more lifelike tasks than the more simplified ones used by Ophir et al (2009), suggesting that media multitasking may be associated with distractibility during everyday life situations as well (e.g., when trying to read in a noisy environment). Future research would benefit greatly from examining the connection between media multitasking and real-life distractibility by, for example, The fact that some previous studies have obtained contradicting results (Alzahabi and Becker, 2013;Minear et al, 2013;Ralph et al, 2015), however, means that the effects of media multitasking on attention-dependent functioning are by no means unequivocally established. It should also be noted that the effect sizes in the present study were small, but this is not surprising considering that the present study did not examine primary effects, but rather transfer effects of the amount of media multitasking to simplified attention tasks in laboratory settings.…”

Media multitasking in adolescence

“…with a number of undesirable characteristics in adults, such as a lesser ability to filter out distracting information (Cain & Mitroff, 2011;Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009; but see Minear, Brasher, McCurdy, Lewis, & Younggren, 2013), worse performance on fluid intelligence measures such as Raven's Progressive Matrices (Minear et al 2013), worse performance on demanding working memory tasks (Ophir et al 2009), worse performance on task switching (Ophir et al 2009; but see Becker, 2013, andMinear et al 2013, for conflicting results), and a tendency to use a split rather than unitary focus of attention (Yap & Lim, 2013). Additionally, heavy media multitasking has been associated with higher levels of impulsivity (Cain & Mitroff, 2016;Minear et al 2013), sensation seeking (Duff et al 2014;Kononova, 2013), attentional lapses, errors, and mind wandering (Ralph, Thomson, Cheyne, & Smilek, 2014), and even with depression and social anxiety (Becker, Alzahabi, & Hopwood, 2012).…”

“…Additionally, heavy media multitasking has been associated with higher levels of impulsivity (Cain & Mitroff, 2016;Minear et al 2013), sensation seeking (Duff et al 2014;Kononova, 2013), attentional lapses, errors, and mind wandering (Ralph, Thomson, Cheyne, & Smilek, 2014), and even with depression and social anxiety (Becker, Alzahabi, & Hopwood, 2012).…”