In our last blog, we discussed the long-term effects of multitasking and explained how only a small subset of people—approximately 2 percent of the population—are able to do multiple tasks simultaneously without it negatively affecting their performance. While the other 98 percent of people may think they’re one of these so-called “supertaskers,” researchers have found an inverse relationship between a person’s perception of their multitasking skills and their actual performance on a multitasking test.
Wondering which group you belong to? Researcher David Strayer created an online version of the multitasking test that can help you settle the matter once and for all. In it, you play the role of a club bouncer whose job is to let the “cool people” in while keeping the uncool ones out, using audio/visual cues to make your decisions. Before taking it, you should know that of the 250 people who were part of the initial study, only seven performed at supertasker levels. (Translation: Don’t feel bad if you fail.) Good luck!
“GateKeeper” Test (requires audio): http://psych.newcastle.edu.au/~ae273/GateKeeper/