Multitasking
People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests. The findings, based on performances and self-evaluation by about 275 college students, indicate that many people multitask not out of a desire to increase productivity, but because they are easily distracted (分心) and can’t focus on one activity. And “those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things,” said David Sanbonmatsu, a psychologist at the University of Utah.
Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues gave the students a set of tests and asked them to report how often they multitasked, how good they thought they were at it, and how sensation-seeking (寻求刺激) or imperative (冲动) they were. They then evaluated the participants’ multitasking ability with a tricky mental task that required the students to do simple mathematical calculations while remembering a set of letters.
Not surprisingly, the scientists said, most people thought they were better than average at multitasking, and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior, which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted.
“People multitask not because it’s going to lead to greater productivity, but because they’re distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important.” Sanbonmatsu said.
Adam Gazzaley, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not a member of the research group, said one limitation of the study was that it couldn’t find out whether people who start out less focused toward multitasking or whether people’s recognizing and understanding abilities change as a result of multitasking.
The findings do suggest, however, why the sensation-seeker who multitask the most may enjoy risky distracted driving. “People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations.” said Paul Atchley, another researcher not in the group. “This may partly explain why people go in for these situations even though they’re dangerous.”
【小题1】 The research led by Sanbonmatsu indicates that people who multitask .A．seek high productivity constantlyB．prefer handling different things when getting boredC．are more focused when doing many things at a timeD．have the poorest results in doing various things at the same time【小题2】When Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues conducted their research, they .A．assessed the multitasking ability of the studentsB．evaluated the academic achievements of the studentsC．analyzed the effects of the participants’ tricky mental tasksD．measured the changes of the students’ understanding ability【小题3】According to Sanbonmatsu, people multitask because of their _.A．limited power in calculationB．interests in doing things differently C．inability to concentrate on one task D．impulsive desire to try new things【小题4】 From the last paragraph, we can learn that multitaskers usually .A．drive very skillfullyB．go in for different tasksC．fail to react quickly to potential dangersD．refuse to explain the reasons for their behaviorD
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(答案→)D
解析：
文章大意：文章讲述的是一项与人们通常的观点相反的研究结果，即通常同时做多件事情的人，反而没有普通人同时处理两件事情的效率高，因为同时做多件事情的人平时更容易分心。
【小题1】根据第一段的“People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests和those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things,”可知，平时同时做多件事情的人，在研究的实验中结果表现最差。故选择D
【小题2】根据第二段的“They then evaluated the participants’ multitasking ability”可知，他们是为了评估每一位参与者的多任务处理能力。
【小题3】根据第四段“People multitask not because it’s going to lead to greater productivity, but because they’re distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important.”可知，Sanbonmatsu认为人们同时做很多件事情，不是因为他们想增加销量/产量，而是因为他们容易分心（distractible），他们很容易被不重要的事情所吸引，因此，得出结论，很多人是没有集中精力做一件事情的能力，即C选项。
【小题4】根据最后一段的“People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations.”，通常同时做多件事情的人对于危险的情况没有那么敏感，也就是说他们对于危险的情况或者潜在的危险没有那么强的敏感性，或者说没有能够做出快速反应的能力，即C选项。