Are YOU a Good Multitasker? (4)
Hey guys! I just finished my final
week of research and I am excited to share what I have accumulated. I have
decided to make the scope of my research, and ultimately my project, around the
need for mastery of the drums. This might seem obvious at first, u need to
master anything to be good at it right? While that is true, you don’t need to
master everything to be able to do it, drumming, and other musical instruments,
require and unhealthy amount of multitasking on our brains, which means that
these musicians need to master every piece of what they are doing. This
is a bit of a complicated topic, so let me explain.
To begin to try to explain what is
going on in your brain, let me tell you about a study done at Institute
National de la Santé et de la Recherché Medicale in Paris. This study proved to
scientists what they had been unsure about. They asked participants to perform
two different activities. In the first example, they told participants f they
performed activity A better, they would be rewarded. When they performed
activity A, and put more effort into it then they were putting into activity B,
one side of their brain lit up. Next they were asked to perform activity B
better, the other side of their brain lit up. The findings here were that when
you perform one activity, and you are focused 100% on that one task, your
prefrontal cortex as well, as a whole, is focused on that task. However, when
you attempt to multitask, your prefrontal cortex is split into two sides, you
left and your right, and your attention switched between sides. Eventually
these scientists in Paris asked the participants to perform three activities at
once. This just caused some of them to completely forget one of the activities
they were supposed to be completing.
While we are switching back and
forth between the different sides of our brain, it is taking a lot out of us.
Often after I play the drums, I wonder why I am so mentally exhausted, all I
did was hit stuff repeatedly for an hour. Well the reason for the mental
exhaustion actually has to do with the cortisol that is being pumped through my
brain while I am drumming. As I attempt to switch back and forth and back and
forth between the different activities happening in my brain, I am stressing my
brain out, causing it to release this hormone. I then become extremely tired.
Besides just the release of cortisol
when multitasking, there is also a release of dopamine. When you attempt to
multitask, you attempt to complete several small tasks simultaneously, and
every time you complete one of these small tasks your brain is rewarded with a
dopamine rush, this causes this multitasking to become addicting
There is yet another major problem with
multitasking, which is that it can damage how you think. According to University
of Cal Neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller,
multitasking comes at a cognitive cost to the brain. There was actually a study
done at the University of London which proved this theory to be true. This
study had half of a study group multitask, while the other half completed one
activity, similar to the study done at the Medical Institution in Paris. In
this study, however, scientists noticed the cognitive ability and IQ of
the people multitasking drop. It was observed the IQ drops were as significant
as the IQ drop you get when you miss a night of sleep or smoke weed. This is a
serious side effect on the brain!
Now, I have begun playing the drums
as you have all seen in my video. In each one I am clearly multitasking, as I am
playing the foot pedal with my foot, hitting the drums with both of my hands,
and as well counting the beats and measures simultaneously in my head.
You have all seen me in class every
day, and, hopefully, I have not seemed like I experienced any severe IQ drops.
This is because of the sort of mastery required to play the drums. When I play
the drums, I usually focus the majority of my energy on one thing, and that is
the foot pedal. This is because I have very little coordination with my feet.
However, I played the snare drum for a long time, which requires use of just
your hands. This helped me to almost perfect the muscle memory that comes with
playing the drums using your hands. You also might see me tapping in class
sometimes when I am zoned out, this is further helping me perfect my muscles
memory. With this I am able to play with my hands without thinking about it, as
long as I have memorized the sheet music.
I have also learned that counting the beats and measures simultaneously is very difficult for me. This is potentially why I am always so mentally exhausted after playing the drums. Professional drummers have mastered the foot pedal, the drums themselves, and memorizing and counting music. I have only mastered one of these things. This is what makes the drums so important to master. If you are not able to do at least two of these things without really having to think about it, you are causing your brain real mental exhaustion and potentially cognitive struggles. Practice is what is going to help me learn to play the foot pedal, so then all I will have to focus on is the music.
Sources:
A very interesting blog post. I never knew that this much went into hitting things with sticks. I hope your able to learn how to multi-task successfully so you don't end up screwing over your brain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caleb, it's interesting to see what is actually going on in your brain while performing a seemingly mindless task. Good job finding studies and using authoritative research. (this comment is really late I thought I commented on this already and then I just checked the checklist and I only had two comments for blog #4)
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