CET-6 Listening Lecture: Why Heavy Multitaskers Struggle to Focus

Recording Three.

Be honest. How many screens are open in front of you right now?

Many of us believe we're good at doing several things at once.

In 2009, researchers at Stanford University put this belief to the test.

They surveyed more than two hundred students about their media habits.

Then they compared heavy multitaskers with light ones.

In one task, students had to remember red shapes and ignore blue ones.

The heavy multitaskers were more easily distracted by the blue shapes!

Even more surprising, they were also slower at switching between tasks!

That's exactly the skill you would expect them to be best at.

The researchers suggested that heavy multitaskers find it harder to filter out what isn't relevant.

But the study doesn't show that multitasking causes the problem.

It's possible that easily distracted people simply multitask more.

Either way, the practical advice is the same.

When you need to focus, close the extra tabs and put your phone in another room.

Questions twenty-two to twenty-five are based on the recording you have just heard.

Question twenty-two. What did the researchers first ask the students about?

Question twenty-three. What did the heavy multitaskers find difficult in the shape task?

Question twenty-four. Why does the speaker find the task-switching result surprising?

Question twenty-five. What does the speaker say about the cause of the problem?

And if you listened to this whole lecture without checking your phone, well done!