Study reveals modern multi-tasking is good for your brain

Multi-tasking in this day and age can leave you in a bit of a tizz.

Juggling too much technology at once - such as texting or browsing online while watching TV - is said to make you less efficient.

But Chinese researchers have found that multi-tasking 21st-century style can be good for the brain.

They said those who multi-tasked frequently used more of their senses when performing a specific task.

Scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong asked 63 people aged between 19 and 28 to find a shape on a computer screen full of similar targets that were changing colour.

In some tests the researchers also played sounds which made the target pop out from the cluttered display.

The participants who multi-tasked the most in their everyday lives were more successful at spotting the target than others when the tone was played.

The researchers said that their ability to routinely take in information from different sources meant they had no trouble dealing with the unexpected sound.

Dr Kelvin Lui and Dr Alan Wong, the study's authors, said the findings highlighted 'an interesting possibility of the effect of media multi-tasking on certain cognitive abilities, multi-sensory integration in particular.'

- Daily Mail