<p>Using Material from Sources Without Plagiarizing</p><p>Directions: Over 38% of the material in this paper is taken word-for-word from sources. Because no quotation marks are used, the underlined material is plagiarized. Your task: either quote or reword the plagiarized material. To check the original sources, use the links in the Reference list. For help, see “Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources” at http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QuotingSources.html </p><p>Multitasking</p><p>Multitasking feels productive, but new research suggests that it has hidden costs. Juggling multiple tasks can interfere with learning, slow mental processing, and cause stress.</p><p>How does multitasking interfere with learning? Multitasking interferes with long-term memory, according to researcher Russel Poldrack. “When you learn while you’re focused on a task, you engage ... the hippocampus,” he told interviewer Lynn Neery (2007). The hippocampus stores conscious memories. Poldrack found that students who multitasked while studying engaged the basal ganglia, which is involved in building habits. As a result, they were less likely to be able to recall what they learned and to apply it in new circumstances.</p><p>Why is multitasking less efficient? Your brain has limits to what it can handle at any one time. A study published in the journal NeuroImage found that juggling two mental tasks at once reduces the brainpower that's available for either task (Bock, 2003). Each switch between tasks costs up to half a second, which is enough time for a driver to travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might otherwise have avoided (“Is,” 2001). According to researcher David Meyer, multitaskers take 25 to 50 percent longer to finish tasks than people who do them one at a time (as cited in Frazier, 2001). </p><p>Why is multitasking stressful? Multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy (Kim, 2007). References</p><p>Bock, W. (2003). Multitasking: An extreme sport for the Digital Age. Message posted to </p><p> http://www.mondaymemo.net/030714feature.htm </p><p>Kirn, W. (2007, November). The autumn of the multitaskers. Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved</p><p> from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking</p><p>Frazier, Stephen. (2001, August 5). Multitasking has problems, study finds [television </p><p> interview with D. Meyer]. CNN tonight. Transcript # 080502CN.V70 retrieved </p><p> from http://www.umich.edu/~bcalab/articles/CNNTranscript2001.html</p><p>Is multitasking more efficient? (2001, August 5). Retrieved from American Psychological</p><p>Association Web site: http://www.apa.org/releases/multitasking.html</p><p>Neery, L. (2007, March 3). How multitasking affects human learning [radio interview </p><p> with R. Poldrack]. NPR Weekend Edition Saturday. Audio file retrieved from </p><p> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7700581</p>