Can you multitask?

[Progster]

I'm reading a book at the moment, The Jumbled Jigsaw by Donna Williams. Williams was diagnosed with autism as an adult, and was non-verbal for the first nine years of her life.

In her book, she describes how she is 'mono-tracked', meaning that she can only process one of her senses at a time: if she is listening or speaking, her vision shuts down and she doesn't process what she sees. If she is looking, she can't see, if she is thinking, she can't hear or speak, etc. This is certainly true for me - if I'm speaking, thinking or listening, then I don't process any visual information. She also says that neurotypical people are able to "listen to someone and not only map the meaning of what the other person is saying but simultaneously keep track of their own thoughts and feelings about what is being said or that they are tired, hungry, need the toilet, or are in social or physical danger" (pg 85).

I have a couple of questions:

Can you multitrack (multitask) - when you listen, can you see at the same time? I asked a couple of people this (NTs) One said that they can, and another that they can't. Also, a mother once told me that her daughter can, but she can't.

Can NTs really multitask, as Williams suggests? I have seen people talking on the phone while at the same time reading or taking down information. There's no way I can do that. I get overloaded if I have stimulation needing my attention coming from two or more sources, literally my head hurts! I once heard that actually it isn't possible to multitask and when people multitask, that this is a myth and what they are actually doing is switching very quickly from one task to another. So perhaps the difficulty for people on the spectrum is that they find it hard to switch quickly from one task to another?

 

[Marcus]

I can play a video game while listening to heavy metal, all the while texting my friends on Discord all at the same time. (There are perks to being a mobile gamer, auto mode is amazing.)

Whenever I listen to someone in person vent to me or just talk in general, I can feel the emotion coming through their voice and also by their facial expressions, on more emotional subjects, if they start to cry or something, I also tend to because I can sense their emotion and literally feel like I'm there in the situation they are describing.

I hope all of that made sense.

 

[Judge]

Interesting question. One that really helped me to understand how autism can impact one, and often in a very selective manner.

Where I can do a number of tasks in the same time frame, as long as it doesn't involve one particular thing- directly communicating to another person. A major reason why I am seldom found in this forum's chat room. Most often because I'm focused on other things at the same time.

If I want to directly communicate with another, most of the time I need to refrain from doing anything else. Though otherwise yes, I can "multitask" with things- not people that don't involve real-time communication.

Though some forms of multitasking for me take time to achieve. When I had to learn automobile underwriting in addition to property, I just couldn't work on both lines of business switching from one to the other. It took about a year before I could work on either line of business indifferently. Until then I did property in the morning, and auto in the afternoon. And yes, it was stressful when an agent would call about one or the other when I wasn't focused on them depending on the time of day!

I'm just glad I didn't know what it was all about at the time. Explaining my autism at the time wouldn't have gone over well in that office.

Strange how the mind can- or cannot work. Go figure!

 

[LucyPurrs]

I can only do about 2 things simultaneously. I can chat with 2 people and play a video game too but the tasks aren't really simultaneous as I go from one to the other.
I do agree that NT multitasking is most often jumping from one task to another very quickly.

 

[Gritches]

Hmm...I've never thought about multi-tasking that way before. I guess I'm also mono-tracked; I come to this conclusion because for my job, I have to appear normal while people are talking to me. But if I'm really concentrating on proper eye contact for example, I might miss some of what they said.

This explains why I do better with conference calls than face-to-face meetings. I don't have to make eye contact with the speakerphone, I can just shut off my other senses and listen. But face-to-face, if I'm not practicing "active listening", people will assume I'm not listening, even if it turns out listening is the only thing I'm doing. Grr.

 

[Mr Allen]

I do it quite a lot, I can listen to my Amazon Echo while playing Xbox.

 

[WereBear]

According to science, there is no multi-tasking: only varying speeds of task switching.

 

[Chance]

Can you multitrack (multitask) - when you listen, can you see at the same time?

Can a Dolphin climb a tree?

No, I cant do that real well at all... BUT I have a well thought out list (everyday) that has all I want to get done in one day, and some of the stuff over laps so it seems like I am sort of multi-tasking but I'm not really?

I try the mutli-tasking, and things get screwed up, and my head gets screwed up, so I just do one thing and do it right and move on to the next thing...

I truly think I get as much done, maybe at times more done than others do and I'm done, and happy with how its done... Until someone derails me and makes me switch what I was already doing and then I tend to become a little bit of a jerk at times, because I want to finish what I started and then go do the other thing. I try not to let it show, but I dislike that very much when people pull this... GRRRR! : )

 

[clg114]

Can I multitask? When I am working trying to find a problem with a machine, I pretty much use all of my senses. I am using my hands, sense of touch. I am looking at what I am doing, sense of sight. If it is making a bad noise I hear it, sense of hearing. If something is burnt or leaking I smell it, sense of smell. However, I am usually work in a building with a lot going on around me and I do not notice any of that because I am focused on the job at hand. So is that multitasking? I just never thought about it before. I guess that I do not know what multitasking is.

 

[Judge]

Can I multitask? When I am working trying to find a problem with a machine, I pretty much use all of my senses. I am using my hands, sense of touch. I am looking at what I am doing, sense of sight. If it is making a bad noise I hear it, sense of hearing. If something is burnt or leaking I smell it, sense of smell. However, I am usually work in a building with a lot going on around me and I do not notice any of that because I am focused on the job at hand. So is that multitasking? I just never thought about it before. I guess that I do not know what multitasking is.

Good points. Yeah, I'm inclined to think that multi-sensing is an equivalent to multitasking.

 

[Fitzo]

I'm nearly always doing something else if I'm on the phone, like cooking or loading/unloading the dishwasher etc. But I couldn't be talking and also listening to TV. So I guess I can do more than one thing but not if it requires the same senses at the same time. Not sure if that qualifies as multi tasking though?

 

[Gracey]

I'm not sure on the absolute definition of the word "multi task"

I can use both hands at once on different jobs.
Screwing the cap back on to the milk container with my left hand whilst stirring my cup of tea with my right hand.
Both hands are working in a circular motion, just different equipment used. Spoon, plastic screw cap at the same time.

The mono-tracking would appear to make sense.
One of my managers commented one time on my exemplary customer service skills because I could have the customer feel like they were the only person in the room with me. 100% focus.

If I apply mono-tracking then that customer WAS the only person in the room with me. 100% focus on that customer in real time in order to fully grasp their requirements and attend to them.

I was rubbish at this on a telephone, unless I closed my eyes. How many offices do you think you can get away with answering calls with your eyes closed? !

The task switching at speed makes sense.

Certainly when my three children were younger.

Prepare food at meal time,
Keep eye on children
Cook food,
Whilst food cooking,
Collect laundry, load machine,
Check cooking food,
Keep eye on children,
Lay table,
Check food,
Warm plates,
Finish off cooking food (timings)
Prepare hot soapy water,
Supervise hand washing and seat children
Dish out,
Wash equipment,
Serve and sit

And so on.
Flitting between lots of small, timed jobs under the umbrella term of meal time.
(Washing machine in the same room as cooker, easy to load/unload whilst cooking)

 

[Crossbreed]

Multi-sense? Yes, always. (I usually can't turn that off.)
I have found that I can increase the acuity of one sense, if I shut off another (such as closing my eyes in order to amplify my hearing*).

Multi-task? Only if the items on hold have a fairly large time window.

*I once had to locate my supervisor in a small, three-story building. I stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor and just closed my eyes, listening for all of the human voices on that floor. I could not make out their actual conversations, but I could tell who was participating in them (by their voice qualities) and found him.

 

[Crossbreed]

According to science, there is no multi-tasking: only varying speeds of task switching.

That brings me back to my relatively low processing speed. It doesn't seem to be a factor in my non-verbal processing.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I can only do one thing at a time with each part of my brain. For the verbal part, if I’m reading or writing, I can’t listen to the radio or to anyone talking. If two people are talking at once, I can’t understand either one.

I can listen to music while doing physical work (like building something). If a program I’m working on isn’t stimulating enough, I have to have some music on to stimulate me a little more. But if the code requires deeper concentration, I have to turn the music off or change it to instrumental only. Heavy thought and listening to words don’t go together.

I can do a verbal task and a math task at the same time. I’ve used this when someone asks me about a math problem - I’ll talk to them about it to stall for a few moments while I solve it in my head. They assume that because I’m talking, I must have done the math part instantaneously, and I look smarter than I really am.

 

[Misery]

I'll just give a direct example:

You dont need to really understand the game to see what's going on. The main goal is simply not to get hit by the purple stuff. As you can see, there is alot of purple stuff, and the further the video goes, the more bonkers it gets. But I wont get hit, except exactly once near the end (and it was a really derpy hit, too).

I can track everything that is moving on the screen. While holding a conversation, hearing/following the music and sound effects, and, I dunno, thinking about cheese or something. Basically, my mental processing speed is *very* high. More than a little abnormal.

The problem: I cant SINGLE-task. At all. I need a certain bare-minimum of stuff happening at once or I start to space out really bad. When spaced out, I get easily confused and more airheaded than usual. And forgetful. This was a real problem back in school, for example, where there was next to nothing to focus on, and what there was, was exceedingly boring. My grades were awful. The spacing out is very frequent. I'll do alot of really bizarre things in that state. Like the time I tried to open a hotel room door with my car remote, and took about 5 minutes to realize what the problem was.

I also have no patience in boring situations. Everything may as well be in slow-motion.

I do have my limits though. When there's just too much (again, typically while playing a game of really extreme difficulty or extreme speed), I hit a state I call "overload". It's very bizarre. Aside from feeling very strange, I'll actually start to physically overheat. I have yet to find out why this happens. It is... unpleasant.

I can still experience an overwhelming sensory state though, as with many autistics. Really loud sounds, bright lights, or a variety of physical sensations can lead to a shutdown. No amount of mental processing stops that.

 

[Propianotuner]

Can NTs really multitask, as Williams suggests?

Multitasking is simply juggling. People can't hold more than one abstract in their minds simultaneously.

I don't know about being 'mono-tracked' on a sensory level, though, but I have noticed that I am always paying more attention to one sense over the others, and some things in my environment over other things in my environment.

She also says that neurotypical people are able to "listen to someone and not only map the meaning of what the other person is saying but simultaneously keep track of their own thoughts and feelings about what is being said or that they are tired, hungry, need the toilet, or are in social or physical danger" (pg 85).

Much of that is subconscious, not information that is consciously being paid a lot of attention to.

 

[SusanLR]

Sensory multitasking is difficult or impossible.
If I am listening to one and someone else speaks,
I can't hear both at the same time.
I have to tell one of them to stop until I finish listening
to the other.
The phone is a great example and I will say excuse me
to the person on the phone and quickly tell the person
with me I can't understand both so please wait a second.
If it is info on a robo machine call and someone speaks
I've lost it and have to redo over.

I can't write what someone is saying as they say it.
Example: a phone number. But, I can visualise the number as they say it in my mind then go back and
look at the envisioned number like a photo and write it
down.

Speaking to explain something that I am thinking of is difficult. Sometimes I find I shut my eyes
when trying to explain verbally.

I can't listen to the words of a song when doing something that demands concentration like writing
or reading. I can listen to the words while driving or housework like folding towels, doing dishes, dusting,
or putting away clothes, unless something is demanding extra concentration at
the time.

Yet sitting here typing I am using multiple senses together. Thinking, typing, reading the words that I am
typing and such.
Couldn't listen to the words of a song, someone talking or a TV line while doing this though.

How long does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Forever, if someone is talking to me.

It's complicated.

 

[Progster]

I can play a video game while listening to heavy metal, all the while texting my friends on Discord all at the same time. (There are perks to being a mobile gamer, auto mode is amazing.)

Yes, but are you actually listening to the music? Are you processing it? Or is it just background. I'm listening to music now as I write this, but I'm not taking it in.

Hmm...I've never thought about multi-tasking that way before. I guess I'm also mono-tracked; I come to this conclusion because for my job, I have to appear normal while people are talking to me. But if I'm really concentrating on proper eye contact for example, I might miss some of what they said.

This explains why I do better with conference calls than face-to-face meetings. I don't have to make eye contact with the speakerphone, I can just shut off my other senses and listen. But face-to-face, if I'm not practicing "active listening", people will assume I'm not listening, even if it turns out listening is the only thing I'm doing. Grr.

I can relate to this, because I find that talking to someone on Skype is easier than talking face to face, because the eye contact doesn't work over video. I wonder how NTs are able to keep track of people's feelings, their own feelings and their thoughts as they are talking/interacting? how do they do it? It seems like they are processing on multichannels and this, in theory, should not be possible.

I do it quite a lot, I can listen to my Amazon Echo while playing Xbox.

Yes, but are you actually listening, or is it background?

Can I multitask? When I am working trying to find a problem with a machine, I pretty much use all of my senses. I am using my hands, sense of touch. I am looking at what I am doing, sense of sight. If it is making a bad noise I hear it, sense of hearing. If something is burnt or leaking I smell it, sense of smell. However, I am usually work in a building with a lot going on around me and I do not notice any of that because I am focused on the job at hand. So is that multitasking? I just never thought about it before. I guess that I do not know what multitasking is.

I think that here, not aren't using them all at the same time, you are actually focused on just one at a time and if something aound you in your environment changes, you are alerted to that. You are actually switching from one to another.

Good points. Yeah, I'm inclined to think that multi-sensing is an equivalent to multitasking.

Yes, this is what I really mean, multi-sensing. It is possible to multitask, but is it possible to multi-sense? Of course, when multittasking, you are also using one or more of your senses. Sensory multitasking.

That brings me back to my relatively low processing speed. It doesn't seem to be a factor in my non-verbal processing.

I can process visual simuli quickly, but not meaning, or abstact thought, and not speech. There is a delay between my hearing someone speak and my interperpreting what they said.

I can do a verbal task and a math task at the same time. I’ve used this when someone asks me about a math problem - I’ll talk to them about it to stall for a few moments while I solve it in my head. They assume that because I’m talking, I must have done the math part instantaneously, and I look smarter than I really am.

I can't do this. If I do a maths task, my other sensory functioning shut down.

I can listen to music while doing physical work (like building something). If a program I’m working on isn’t stimulating enough, I have to have some music on to stimulate me a little more. But if the code requires deeper concentration, I have to turn the music off or change it to instrumental only. Heavy thought and listening to words don’t go together

Same here. If I need to concentrate hard on something, I turn the music off. Also, constant loud music tires me.

I can't listen to the words of a song when doing something that demands concentration like writing
or reading. I can listen to the words while driving or housework like folding towels, doing dishes, dusting,
or putting away clothes, unless something is demanding extra concentration at
the time.

I think that when a task like driving is learnt and you do it on 'automatic pilot', is is possible to talk or listen to the lyrics of a song at the same time.

 

[WereBear]

I can listen to music while doing physical work (like building something). If a program I’m working on isn’t stimulating enough, I have to have some music on to stimulate me a little more. But if the code requires deeper concentration, I have to turn the music off or change it to instrumental only. Heavy thought and listening to words don’t go together.

I think the disagreements on "what station to play at the office" is that many of the people don't really listen, and some of them actually do.

Yes, but are you actually listening, or is it background?

Exactly.