Anybody know anything about Psychology?

[Andy in Sig]

It seems to be a truism that the human mind cannot think about two things simultaneously. Has anybody got an academic reference where this is stated? Either a textbook or an article will do.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

This has got me thinking about a science fiction story I read as a lad. I can remember the classroom scene when his teacher called to him as he was staring out of the window and said "you can't think of two things at the same time" and he thought 'well I can'. Can't remember what it was called now - that's going to bug me.

Sorry, science fiction and not acedemic but it was a good read...

 

[swee'pea99]

How does girlies do that there multi-tasking thing then, eh? I mean, if you're knitting while driving while talking on your mobile, you must be thinking about more than one thing at the same time, mustn't you?

 

[taxing]

[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1285759684' post='1413090']
How does girlies do that there multi-tasking thing then, eh? I mean, if you're knitting while driving while talking on your mobile, you must be thinking about more than one thing at the same time, mustn't you?
[/quote]

That was covered in the BBC Magazine recently. You're not thinking two things at once, you're thinking about one thing, then the other, then the first again. It's apparently less productive than just doing a job then moving on to the next.

 

[Spinney]

[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1285759684' post='1413090']
How does girlies do that there multi-tasking thing then, eh? I mean, if you're knitting while driving while talking on your mobile, you must be thinking about more than one thing at the same time, mustn't you?
[/quote]

It probably depends on the definition of 'thinking'.

Even you blokes can probably think about things* while cycling, and cycling involves paying attention to what is around you. However does the latter count as thinking? As a 'girlie' I can do several things at once - e.g. holding a conversation while cooking, but in that example the latter only requires a bit of attention, not really 'thinking'



* things other than cycling, I mean. Women, food, beer, etc.

 

[rich p]

When my kids were young I had a strange experience a few times, where I was reading a bedtime story from a very familiar book while thinking about something else entirely. It only happened very rarely but it was quite spooky.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

When my kids were young I had a strange experience a few times, where I was reading a bedtime story from a very familiar book while thinking about something else entirely. It only happened very rarely but it was quite spooky.

I know what you mean, rich. I can read 'Maisy's Bedtime' without even opening the book...

 

[dellzeqq]

When my kids were young I had a strange experience a few times, where I was reading a bedtime story from a very familiar book while thinking about something else entirely. It only happened very rarely but it was quite spooky.

yup. Bedtime stories - the perfect example. Read them out loud and read another book at the same time. Of course it worked two ways. The little horrors would insinuate themselves on to my lap, put the book in my hands and I'd start reading the thing without even realising what I was doing

 

[ChrisKH]

When my kids were young I had a strange experience a few times, where I was reading a bedtime story from a very familiar book while thinking about something else entirely. It only happened very rarely but it was quite spooky.

I can read a bedtime story to my kids in a sleep deprived state and then as I'm reading, I'm falling asleep and the words change to what is ever in my sub-conscious. Boys say I have done it several times and it sounds like I'm speaking in tongues.

 

[Chrisz]

Familiar tasks or tasks often repeated can be performed autonomously - without conscious thought. New or unfamiliar tasks are performed cognitively - we have to think about them.

Thus, we are able to drive familiar routes without having to think about braking, changing gear etc. whilst holding complex conversations. Sports performers will perform relatively complex skills autonomously whist "thinking" about tactics etc. thus "multi-tasking".

As previously stated, women (generally) tend to try to perform several tasks simultaneously (switching between tasks) whilst men (generally) prefer to concentrate on tasks sequentially.

 

[Andy in Sig]

You lot are about as much use as tits on a fish. You did make me smile though. I should've known better.

 

[Chrisz]

Are you looking for clinical/medical refs or sports specific refs? If sport, Schmidt (Motor Learning and Performance) is a good start.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Psychological/Scientific. I sort of imagined that if the idea is right it would probably be on page one of every psychology text book as it seems so fundamental and I made the clearly silly mistake of assuming that this place would be crawling with psychology graduates.

 

[asterix]

That was covered in the BBC Magazine recently. You're not thinking two things at once, you're thinking about one thing, then the other, then the first again. It's apparently less productive than just doing a job then moving on to the next.

Although tis how computers do it.

 

[Chrisz]

To answer your original post - humans CAN think about two things at once. However, we have a fixed capacity for attention so "Attention remaining, for a secondary task is reduced when the primary task is more complex" = Schmidt R (1991) Motor Learning And Performance (p31).

In other words, simple tasks can be thought about/performed simultaneously but not complex tasks.