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Stanford's summary of their 2009 study. Excerpt: "Again, the heavy multitaskers underperformed the light multitaskers. "They couldn't help thinking about the task they weren't doing," Ophir said. "The high multitaskers are always drawing from all the information in front of them. They can't keep things separate in their minds." The researchers are still studying whether chronic media multitaskers are born with an inability to concentrate or are damaging their cognitive control by willingly taking in so much at once. But they're convinced the minds of multitaskers are not working as well as they could."

Un-peer-reviewed / un-published research, but potentially interesting as support of the U Utah study. Summary: "What we found is on average most people perform better when focusing on one single task," said Ms. Ulmer. "But this one group of people-the high media multitaskers-performed best when they are in a multitasking environment. The high media multitaskers actually excelled in the multitasking room."

APA's 2006 summary of numerous research papers finds (1) humans are not able to multitask and (2) multitasking reduces efficiency. Their conclusion: avoid multitasking on complex tasks. Excerpt "Although switch costs may be relatively small, sometimes just a few tenths of a second per switch, they can add up to large amounts when people switch repeatedly back and forth between tasks. Thus, multitasking may seem efficient on the surface but may actually take more time in the end and involve more error. Meyer has said that even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time."

Excerpt: "They found that heavy multitaskers-those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance-were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time. The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another."

""Successful" multitasking has been shown to activate the reward circuit in the brain by increasing dopamine levels-the brain chemical responsible for feelings of happiness.... This is comparable to the rush you might feel while playing the slot machines in a casino.... It's important to be aware of how multitasking can stimulate us into mindlessness, giving the illusion of productivity while stealing our focus and harming performance."

"'Effective multitasking' is sort of an oxymoron. "The human brain doesn't really multitask," says Art Markman, cognitive psychologist and author of Smart Thinking (Perigee, 2012). "What the human brain does is what I call time-sharing.""

Multitasking feels good because of your brain chemicals, not because you're good at it. Excerpt: "Research has shown that when you multitask 'successfully', you activate the reward mechanism in your brain which releases dopamine, the happy hormone. This dopamine rush makes you feel so good that you believe you're being effective and further encourages your multitasking habit."

Abstract: "Driver distraction is a significant source of motor-vehicle accidents. This chapter begins by presenting a framework for conceptualizing the different sources of driver distraction associated with multitasking. Thereafter, the primary focus is on cognitive sources of distraction stemming from the use of a cell phone while driving. We present converging evidence establishing that concurrent cell phone use significantly increases the risk of a motor-vehicle accident. Next, we show that using a cell phone induces a form of inattention blindness, where drivers fail to notice information directly in their line of sight. Whereas cell-phone use increases the crash risk, we show that passenger conversations do not. We also show that real-world cell-phone interference cannot be practiced away and conclude by considering individual differences in multitasking ability. Although the vast majority of individuals cannot perform this dual-task combination without impairment, a small group of "supertaskers" can, and we discuss the neural regions that support this ability."

Study found that most people multitask poorly, while a few people might be "supertaskers." Abstract: "Driver distraction is a significant source of motor-vehicle accidents.... concurrent cell phone use significantly increases the risk of a motor-vehicle accident.... using a cell phone induces a form of inattention blindness, where drivers fail to notice information directly in their line of sight.... real-world cell-phone interference cannot be practiced away.... a small group of "supertaskers" can [multitask]."

Video summary of the 2009 study.

Articles and research.

"the goal is not constant focus, but a short period of distraction-free time every day. "Twenty minutes a day of deep focus could be transformative," Rock says." The steps: 1: Do creative work first. 2: Allocate your time deliberately. 3: Train your mind like a muscle.

"A free Mac application to help you avoid distracting websites."

Interval timer - great for productivity!

Interval timer - great for productivity!

Remember Pavlov's doggie? This is an overview of reinforcement (positive and negative) as well as schedules of reinforcement. Pay special attention to intermittent reinforcement: it might be even more powerful than reliable reinforcement schedules, since uncertainty could lead to higher success of the reinforcer.

It's pretty amazing stuff, really. According to one hypothesis, dopamine is a reward for unexpected stimuli: "...rewards that are expected do not produce any activation of dopamine cells, but rewards that are greater than expected produce a short-lasting increase in dopamine." And it has profound effects on cognition: "It is now known that both dopamine and norepinephrine have essential actions on prefrontal cortical function, and help coordinate cognitive state with arousal state.[28] Dopamine has an "inverted U" influence on prefrontal function through its actions on D1 receptors, where either too little or too much impairs working memory function.[29]"

A branded way to work 25 minutes, then rest for 5.

Excerpt: "A recent happiness study from Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert found that the more our minds wander, the less happy we are.... In short, being mentally "present" and focused on the task at hand really does matter - quite a lot, in fact."