You may have heard that multitasking is bad for you, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain.

你或许听说过同时做多项任务的害处，不过有新的研究表明，同时处理多项任务不仅会影响你的表现，甚至还会对大脑造成损伤。

Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.

斯坦福大学的一项研究发现，同时处理多项任务比一次只做一件事的效率低。 研究人员发现，经常被多条电子信息轰炸的人无法像一次只处理一项任务的人一样集中精力、从大脑中调取信息或者从一个任务转换到另一个任务。

1. A Special Skill?

这是一个特殊技能？

But what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford researchers compared groups of people .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 irrelevant¹ information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another.

但是如果有人拥有能同时处理多项任务的天赋呢？ 斯坦福大学的研究人员做了一个对比研究。 他们发现，特别喜欢同时处理多项任务且感觉这样做效果特别好的人实际上比一次专注于一项任务的人更不擅于多任务处理，因为他们更难理清自己的思路、过滤掉不必要的信息，而且他们从一项任务转换到另一项任务的速度也很慢。

Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.

多任务处理是效率和表现的杀手，因为大脑一次只能关注一件事。你想同时做两件事，可是大脑又缺乏同时成功完成两项任务的能力。

2. Multitasking Lowers IQ

多任务处理降低智商

Research also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ. A study at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive² tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they’d expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night. IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of an 8-year-old child.

研究还表明，多任务处理不仅减缓你的速度，还会降低你的智商。 伦敦大学的一项研究发现，在认知任务中采用多任务处理方法的参与者智商有所下降，下降程度与吸食大麻或通宵未眠的情况相似。 多任务处理使这些人的智商下降15个点，与8岁小孩的智商平均值相似。

3. Brain Damage From Multitasking?

多任务处理会损伤大脑？

It was long believed that cognitive impairment from multitasking was temporary, but new research suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Sussex in the UK compared the amount of time people spend on multiple devices (such as texting while watching TV) to MRI scans of their brains. They found that high multitaskers had less brain density³ in the anterior⁴ cingulate cortex, a region responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control.

一直以来，人们都认为多任务处理导致的认知障碍是暂时的，但一项新的研究却给出了不同的答案。英国苏塞克斯大学的研究员对比了人们在多个设备上花费的时间（比如，在看电视的同时发短信）并对他们的大脑进行核磁共振扫描。他们发现，重读多任务处理者前扣带皮层的脑密度较小，前扣带皮层是控制同情心、认知和情绪的区域。

While more research is needed to determine if multitasking is physically⁵ damaging the brain , it’s clear that multitasking has negative effects.

虽然仍需更多的研究来确定多任务处理是否会对大脑造成生理损害，但它的负面影响已经不言而喻。

Neuroscientist Kep Kee Loh, the study’s lead author, explained the implications:

这项研究的第一作者，神经科学家Kep Kee Loh认为：

“I feel that it is important to create an awareness⁶ that the way we are interacting with the devices might be changing the way we think and these changes might be occurring at the level of brain structure.”

“重要的是我们应该建立一种意识，即我们与设备交互的方式可能会改变我们的思维方式，而这些变化很可能发生在大脑结构层面。”

4. The EQ Connection

与情商息息相关

Multitasking in meetings and other social settings indicates low Self- and Social Awareness, two emotional intelligence (EQ) skills that are critical to success at work. TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that 90% of top performers have high EQs. If multitasking does indeed damage the anterior cingulate cortex (a key brain region for EQ) as current research suggests, doing so will lower your EQ while it alienates⁷ your coworkers.

在会议和其他社交场合中进行多任务处理是自我意识和社会意识低下的表现，这两种情商技能都对工作能否成功至关重要。 TalentSmart已经对超过一百万人进行了测试，发现90％的表现出色的人情商都很高。 就目前的研究来说，如果多任务处理确实会伤害前扣带皮质（对于情商非常重要的大脑区域），那么经常这样做就会降低你的情商，使你和同事们越走越远。