This article was interesting in that it similarly confirmed what the Frontline PBS special reported about the multitasking abilities of people. A study at the University of Utah demonstrated the truth about multitaskers: those who think that they are very good multitaskers are typically the worst at it. They are subject to the psychological phenomenon known as cognitive bias in which a person overestimates their abilities. Cornell psychologists, Dunning and Kuger stated in the article, "Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it." This is so similar to the study conducted to the MIT students. They too believed that they were going to astound the researchers with their impressive multitasking skills. As the tests demonstrated, they were incorrect in their delusional assumptions. They were actually very poor at multitasking. Referring back to the University of Utah study mentioned in the article, it was proven that only 2.5% of the sample was able to effectively multitask, just 2.5%. Therefore, those who believe that they are good at multitasking are probably not and should stop trying to do so.
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