How many hacksaws can you keep in the air?

[lagilman]

Over in matociquala's LJ, a discussion is going on about hemispheric domination (are you left-brained or right-brained). This led me into a contemplation of another brain function: multitasking.

Unlike Bear, I tend not to get fascinated by the details of why -- once I figure it out, I'm more interested in how the results play out in realtime.

For example, right now I am watching a movie (Shakespeare in Love), writing this post, composing [mentally] a scathing e-mail that will never be sent to someone who needs a flaming iron shoved up his arse, and writing a totally kickass scene in DOWN INTO DARKNESS that requires me to have three different scenes playing out in real time, at three different locations, all tied to each other in almost perfect synchronization [and it's a fricking brilliant scene, if I do say so myself. Blood! Angst! Wisecracks! Woobie!].

Because I'm so spread out, things like typos will creep in. And my inability to stay in tense is well-known [and yes, I do it in speech too. I have been accused of being a time-traveler dropped once too often on my head, but that's another story and there I am going into parenthetical asides again]

Clearly, if I want to write sans typos, and save myself revisions later, I should focus on only one thing at a time.

I tried that. I couldn't function. Not only that I couldn't create [I couldn't] but I could. Not. Function. It's just how I'm hardwired.

But many of my favorite people [and my therapist will doubtless have things to say about my tendency to fall for single-focused types, but oh well] are NOT multi-taskers. Perfectly nice people, mostly, and just as or more effective than I am -- it's just a different kind of wiring.

So it made me wonder

a) how LJ (as a randomly self-selected sampling) skews: multi-task vs tight-focus workers
b) how sample (a) skews to left or right brain hemispheres. (the test is here

Come on, fess up.... I'll be over there in the corner, making P.B. bleed.

Comments

[girasole.livejournal.com]

The test came out precisely evenly for me. At the risk of talking far too much about aging, allow me to say that I used to multitask and I do it less and less. I used to work to music always, and now I rarely do. I used to be able to hold three or four tasks in my head at once (I am a parent, after all) and rarely can do that now. I cannot go back to that river, I have to step in a different place now.

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

I'm a multi-tasker, too. It's easier when working at home to incorporate the music, singing and pacing that accompany my work so I'm not sure how I'll go when I start at an office again later this year!

The test came out completely left-brained for me, which I thought was weird. So I went back and changed lots of answers and still got the same result...hmmm. When I checked the responses against their list I came out evenly left and right, which is more what I'd expect.

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

The test came out completely left-brained for me, which I thought was weird. So I went back and changed lots of answers and still got the same result...hmmm.

It did that for me too, whatever answers I gave. There must be something broken, perhaps for non-IE users (or *are* you an IE user?).

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Now that you mention it, I was using the Mac (and Safari) yesterday. So maybe that is it. I do have IE on the PC but would have to go boot someone else off it to test, as well as get up from my nice cup of tea and blog reading.

[ianrandalstrock.livejournal.com]

Oh, multi-tasking to a fare-thee-well (does anyone actually say that anymore?). Always either music or tv going, working on the thing in front of me, thinking about the thing I'll be working on next (or should be working on now), a little daydreaming running the background, and on and on.

I didn't like that test, because half of my answers would have been somewhere in between the two choices given (I don't go for the left or the right in the theater; I aim for the middle).

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

I didn't like that test, because half of my answers would have been somewhere in between the two choices given (I don't go for the left or the right in the theater; I aim for the middle).

Yes, exactly; I'd have liked some way to say "don't care" to most of the questions.

[debg.livejournal.com]

I can't take the test. They lost me on the first question, because they didn't provide my choice; in theatres, I head straight for the centre. That's best spot acoustically; if I want to see everything and get the best audio mix, the centre is the place to be.

I can multitask, no trouble at all. But my multitasking is a series of small, hard, VERY tight focus points. Nothing gets done randomly.

However, ask me for logic or problem-solving and I run screaming. I don't think my way through anything; I distrust too much thinking. My brain, as one comedian put it, is a glorious little yard sale.

Right-brain, all the way. I'm just right-brained with a very deep attention span. In my experience, being able to juggle several brightly coloured bowling balls in the air at the same time doesn't mean a logical mind, necessarily.

Or at least, not if it's me.

[lagilman]

In my experience, being able to juggle several brightly coloured bowling balls in the air at the same time doesn't mean a logical mind, necessarily.

Actually, it's usually seems the opposite -- really logical (and linear) minds aren't as comfortable in multi-tasking tests as those who are at one with the chaos...

(this does not apply to actual juggling, however)

[debg.livejournal.com]

Heh. I can say, with close to absolute certainty, that no one in the history of my time on Planet Earth has ever called my mind "linear".

But it's an interest take. And yeah, I can multitask like a mad thing. But the moment I realise I'm no longer viscerally interested in one or more of said tasks, I stop doing it. It has to be very shiny to get and hold my attention, and as soon as it stops being shiny, I step away.

I'm all about the bright shiny chaos. Ooooooh! Shiny pretty soul-wrenching insert adjective of choice here THING to play with or roll around naked in!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

(a) I don't multitask so much as bounce: Write (which is an oddly thoughtless process when I finally get down to it); wander (which is when I think); write; do the dishes (thinkthinkthink); write; torture a cat; wander; write... And so on until complete.

(b) The test contends I'm more right-brained, but not by All That Much (11 of whatever we're counting for the right; 7 for the left). This seems about right to me, since I had to do a heckuva lot of learning how to organize so other people could find the stuff I put away -- a valuable, employable trait for a career secretary. Me, I'm perfectly happy organizing my CDs by ...gah... call it "relationship." Drives kinzel bugs.

(c) Bonus answer: If you tie my hands behind my back, I can't talk.

[lagilman]

(c) Bonus answer: If you tie my hands behind my back, I can't talk.

My ex thought it was funny to grab me by the wrists and announce - "look! She can't talk like this!"

I didn't find it quite as amusing as he did. But it was true. I was deeply unnerved while in Germany not because everyone was so remarkably blond, but because they all kept their hands perfectly still when they spoke. Weeeeeeeird.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

(c) Bonus answer: If you tie my hands behind my back, I can't talk.

indeed. Me, too. I used to think it was because I am Italian-American, but many verbal types share this.

[debg.livejournal.com]

Yep. Same here. I go silent, or fix on one word and make myself repeat it. But I can't communicate verbally with my hands not available.

[shana.livejournal.com]

When I say I multitask, what I mean is that I am good at jumping between tasks.

Which was very useful as a secretary, and now as a librarian.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Tight-focus. I CANNOT have music on when I'm thinking. (Pre-Classical instrumentals are okay in the background. Otherwise not.)

I do embroider and watch TV, though. That's the extent of it.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I used to multitask everything, and get it all done. Very right-brained... about 2/3 if the time. Since the illness, multitasking is very hard, and I think a lot more like a lot of guys -- single focus, don't play NPR while driving, don't talk or play books on tape.

Don't know if I will get back total multitasking or not -- maybe just partial, like launching something (laundry) and then working in office.

I try to always proof before posting -- a different font helps a lot in that -- but a spellchecker can fail you, especially if you use larger words than you spell, so to speak.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I alternate. When I'm hypomanic I tight focus. The rest of the time, not so much.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Unless you get advances the size of an annual salary a person can live on, or don't depend on it for any significant portion of your living (to wit, independently wealthy or have a spousal unit who provides the lion's share of the household income), I don't see how it's at all possible to live as a full-time freelancer if you can't multitask....

And yeah, I'm a multitasker, as anyone who reads my LJ at the beginning of any given month knows. *laughs*

[signeh.livejournal.com]

It depends on the task. For something that's primarily mental, silence is best. If it's a routine, mechanical thing like cleaning or laundry the tv needs to be on, preferably tuned to an hour long drama. I can pace to the commercial breaks but still get a reasonable amount done.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

The test says that I lean to the left. But on most of the questions, my preferred response would have been "None of the above". For example, the last question about math. If it's higher than arithmetic, I can seldom get the answer, let alone explain it, and both of the responses said that I could get the answer. For the first question, my response depends on if it is a classroom or an amphitheatre and on where I enter the room.

In general, I'm not a multi-tasker.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

I had a thought. I was talking just yesterday to the SO about his ability to NOT get overwhelmed by several big projects. He is able to compartementalize extremely well. He doesn't multi-task at all, but he is able to totally shut of task 1 when he must move to task 2 etc. I can't do this at all. If I have a lot of work to do, then I can't concentrate on our house project, for example, cuz I'm always thinking about how much work I have left to do. I tend to do all one thing, or all another.

So, anyway, my thought was this: Maybe this compartementalization ability is related to emotional compartementalization ability. Because it reminds me of people who never miss the person that they are not with because they live so totally in the moment that they can't waste time missing someone who they can't be with. They are completely happy to see/talk with that person because they like/love him/her, but don't get bogged down with missing them. Whereas I miss people like crazy, thus wasting potentially profitable time bemoaning what I don't have in the hand.

For what it's worth.

[lagilman]

re: compartementalization: Makes sense, and certainly fits with my experiences.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. Because I totally focus on whatever project I'm working on, and also don't miss people at all. I might have a fleeting thought that something would be more fun if so-and-so was here, or be disappointed that someone didn't show up to an event where I'd hoped to see them, but those are brief thoughts, gone almost as soon as they're voiced.

I always put that down to left-brainism, because there's no point in missing them, it doesn't accomplish anything, you can't change anything, just waste your energy in a negative head space. But I can see where it might be a symptom of compartmentalization, too.

Hmmm..... good thoughts.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

First of all, the test is defective. I took it once, got 8/10, changed ONE answer, and got 6/12. Huh? Changed the answer back. Got 7/11. Went down and clicked on every marked circle, changing nothing... and got 8/10.

Which I think clearly indicates I'm left-brained, because I had to do the problem solving, to prove it was misbehaving. :-)

I totally don't multi-task. I'm so single-tasking, that when I'm involved in something, that becomes my entire world, so that I won't hear any sounds, even right next to me, and won't even feel sensations unless they're ovewhelming in urgency.

[lagilman]

one of the things in the instructions (and the instructions of almost all tests like this) is that YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GO BACK AND CHANGE YOUR ANSWERS. Nor are you supposed to think too long about them -- go with your instinctive response.


We all, of course, are contrary cats.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem was "which side of the auditorium do you sit on?" Is that left side from the auditorium, viewing the stage, or left side from the stage, viewing the seats? The question was not sufficiently clear. :-)

[lagilman]

*snerk* That was exactly my reaction -- "left, or stage left? Which way am I facing?"

I just challked it up to being an analytical Virgo-type.

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

Binary logic gets annoying applied to people. I got O'Bannon pollstered some hours back, and kept saying things that were uncomplimentary to the question of the ilk, "which of these [two] answers..." when I disagreed with both positions, regarded them as two extremes which allowed for no middle ground, or were orthogonal. The poll seemed to be oriented in part to opinion polling about possible replacements in an election to replace for Rep. Meehan if he gets offered and accepts being the head of University of Massachusetts at Lowell. "Do you have a positive or negative opinion of or never heard of [each one of a list of people" just did not hack it for me--"I have heard of this person, but I don't know enough about the person to have an opinion," or "neutral" weren't answers allowed. Not all the questions were binary, but way too many of them were, and there was no, "None of the above, here's what my opinion was."

Lots of polls are like that, and from where I sit, they're GIGO at best -- garbage in, garbage out. That "at best" is there because they give misleading, erronious results and seek to influence on the base of biased-from-the-get-go-of-the-questions-and-allowed-answers opinion polling. But, that sort of polling keeps getting done.

The relation of that to the discussion, is that it's forcefitting to a bad model, sometimes in the case of polling, a deliberately and intentionally bad fidelity model.

I took the test and thought it was binary-biased one, that doesn't allow for gradation, or answers that are not "A or B"

[lagilman]

But do you multi-task or not? Everyone's so hung up on the test, they're forgetting there were two parts to the question, and the test was (to me, at least) of less importance...

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

I have two computer displays in front of me (on the same machine) and 62 windows open on them...

"I know that your can do two or three things at the same time," said my boss to me, "The question is, can you do five or six?"

[multitasker, though I haven't had the TV set on as background sight and sound on lately while on-line at home]