Research on human multitasking
Since the 1990s, experimental psychologists have started experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking. It has been proven multitasking is not as workable as concentrated times. In general, these studies have disclosed that people show severe interference when even very simple tasks are performed at the same time, if both tasks require selecting and producing action (e.g., Gladstones, Regan, & Lee, 1989; Pashler, 1994). Many researchers believe that action planning represents a "bottleneck", which the human brain can only perform one task at a time.
The term "multitasking" was originated in the computer engineering industry. It was used to reference the ability of a microprocessor, which is the brain of the computer. Multitasking means to process several tasks simuntaneously (from article "You say Multitasking like it's a good thing" by Charles J. Abate, March/April 2009 issue of NEAtoday). Microprocessors can't literally perform several tasks simultaneously. "They are inherently linear in their operation and can perform only one task at a time".
