Multitasking Conditions Research Articles

Long-term cognitive and affective consequences of mild traumatic brain injury: comparison with older adults

ABSTRACT Objective Memory and affective processing were compared in young adults with a remote mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), to healthy younger and older adults. We evaluated memory performance when encoding was done under multi-tasking (divided attention) conditions, likely to exacerbate cognitive and psychological symptoms in mTBI. Methods Participants studied pairs of unrelated words under either full or divided attention conditions. Memory for single words (item memory) and for pairs of words (associative memory) was then assessed in sequential independent recognition tests, under full attention. Results Associative memory was poorer than item memory, and worse when encoding was done under divided than full attention. The decline in recognition accuracy from full to divided attention conditions on the associative memory test was significantly greater in mTBI compared to young adults and was similar in magnitude to that observed in older adults under full attention. Self-reported mental and total fatigue increased significantly as performance on the memory tests, following the divided attention condition, decreased, but only in the mTBI group. Conclusions Results show lingering memory deficits, and suggest that cognitive tasks may be experienced as psychologically more demanding in those with a mTBI, even months or years after injury.

Visual behavior of racing bike cyclists in multi-tasking situations

Distracted biking can have serious repercussions for the rider such as accidents. The purpose of the present experiment was to determine the effect of visually monitoring two parameters, the cadence, and the heart rate on a bike computer fixed on a racing bike, and simultaneously detect hazardous traffic situations. Individuals (n = 20) were instructed to ride a racing bike that was fitted onto a roller trainer. After conducting a bicycle step test to assess the maximal heart rate (HFmax), participants were assigned to a within subject-design on a separate day. They were instructed to perform the riding task in two single-task conditions (only watching the traffic at the video with occluded or without occluded bike computer), two multi-tasking conditions (monitoring the cadence of 70 RPM or 90 RPM, monitoring the heart rate, and observing the traffic) and one control condition (no instructions). Percentage dwell time of the eye movements, the constant error from the target cadence, keeping the heart rate in an interval of 50% - 70% of the HFmax, and percentage of the recognized hazard traffic situations were analyzed. The analysis indicated that monitoring the parameters on the bike computer induced no significant decline in perceived hazardous traffic situations.

Reduced trunk movement control during motor dual-tasking in older adults

Older adults have a decreased trunk movement control which is linked to their higher fall risk. While motor/cognitive dual-tasking deteriorates balance and walking in older adults, there is limited understanding on how trunk kinematics and kinetics are affected by dual-tasking in scenarios where falls can occur. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the impacts of a challenging motor dual-task, specifically obstacle avoidance during walking, on trunk and lower-body kinematics and kinetics of older adults compared to young adults. The study captured three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data from 12 young adults and 10 older adults as they walked on a treadmill and stepped over an obstacle with both legs. The study analyzed trunk, hip, knee, and ankle angles and torques. Trunk torque was further broken down to trunk muscle torque, gravitational torque, and inertia torque. A linear mixed effects model was used to investigate the difference in each variable between the two groups. Older adults exhibited significantly increased trunk flexion angle and trunk extension muscle torque compared to young adults, with the trunk being the only segment/joint showing differences in both kinematics and kinetics. Trunk torque breakdown analysis revealed that larger trunk flexion led to a larger gravitational torque, which contributed to an increased compensatory trunk muscle torque. Moreover, older adults' less controlled trunk flexion during weight shifting from trail leg to the lead leg, necessitated a compensatory trunk deceleration during trail leg obstacle avoidance which was achieved by generating additional increase in trunk muscle torque. The study demonstrated that motor dual-tasking has the most negative effects on trunk control in older adults compared to young adults. This exposes older adults to a higher fall risk. Therefore, future work should focus on supporting trunk control during daily multi-tasking conditions where falls can occur.

The effects of multitasking on metacognitive monitoring in primary and secondary school students

Influenced by the epidemic and the rapid popularization of smart devices, media multitasking has become increasingly common in people’s lives and has attracted the attention of researchers, particularly among adolescents who are native to the digital era. However, previous studies have focused primarily on the relationship between multitasking and general cognitive functions, paying less attention to the connection between multitasking and metacognition, and there is a lack of research specifically addressing adolescents in this context. To address this gap, the current study conducted two experiments with upper primary and secondary school students to explore the relationship between multitasking and adolescents’ metacognition under intrinsic and extrinsic cue conditions using metacognitive monitoring as an indicator. The results revealed that multitasking significantly reduced adolescents’ metacognitive monitoring accuracy. However, the scores on the media multitasking questionnaire did not significantly correlate with metacognitive monitoring accuracy in the laboratory task. This finding suggested that multitasking, under both intrinsic and extrinsic cue conditions, impairs the accuracy of metacognitive monitoring for primary and secondary school students. However, daily media multitasking activities among these students were not significantly correlated with metacognitive monitoring accuracy.

Decision made, good feelings fade? How noise and multitasking affect decision confidence and well-being

Objectives. This study aimed to examine the influence of office noise and multitasking on decision confidence, overconfidence, satisfaction, calibration and affective well-being. Detrimental effects of noise and multitasking on perceived annoyance and concentration are well documented. Little is known about whether decision confidence and well-being during decisions are also affected. Methods. The study was a between-subjects laboratory experiment (n = 109) involving a noise condition with office noise presented through headphones (A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level of LA eq = 60 dB), a multitasking condition with an email-sorting task as the primary task and a control condition. Results. Compared to the control condition, subjects in the noise and multitasking conditions exhibited overestimation of confidence. There was also a significant decrease in well-being for people in the noise condition. Calibration was not affected. Conclusion. In the case of noise, well-being is affected even before the thresholds of workplace legislation are reached. Undue overconfidence can have detrimental effects upon subsequent decisions and risk-taking. Findings suggest that there should be greater consideration of environmental influences during decision-making in work environments.

Exploring Embodied Cognition and Brain Dynamics under Multi-tasks Target Detection in Immerse Projector-based Augmented Reality (IPAR) Scenarios.

Embodied cognition explores the intricate interaction between the brain, body, and the surrounding environment. The advancement of mobile devices, such as immersive interactive computing and wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) devices, has presented new challenges and opportunities for studying embodied cognition. To address how mobile technology within immersive hybrid settings affects embodied cognition, we propose a target detection multitask incorporating mixed body movement interference and an environmental distraction light signal. We aim to investigate human embodied cognition in immersive projector-based augmented reality (IPAR) scenarios using wireless EEG technology. We recruited and engaged fifteen participants in four multitasking conditions: standing without distraction (SND), walking without distraction (WND), standing with distraction (SD), and walking with distraction (WD). We pre-processed the EEG data using Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to isolate brain sources and K-means clustering to categorize Independent Components (ICs). Following that, we conducted time-frequency and correlation analyses to identify neural dynamics changes associated with multitasking. Our findings reveal a decline in behavioral performance during multitasking activities. We also observed decreases in alpha and beta power in the frontal and motor cortex during standing target search tasks, decreases in theta power, and increases in alpha power in the occipital lobe during multitasking. We also noted perturbations in theta band power during distraction tasks. Notably, physical movement induced more significant fluctuations in the frontal and motor cortex than distractions from social environment light signals. Particularly in scenarios involving walking and multitasking, there was a noticeable reduction in beta suppression. Our study underscores the importance of brain-body collaboration in multitasking scenarios, where the simultaneous engagement of the body and brain in complex tasks highlights the dynamic nature of cognitive processes within the framework of embodied cognition. Furthermore, integrating immersive augmented reality technology into embodied cognition research enhances our understanding of the interplay between the body, environment, and cognitive functions, with profound implications for advancing human-computer interaction and elucidating cognitive dynamics in multitasking.

Decomposing mode-specific values of travel time savings with respect to different levels of travel-based multitasking: A revealed preference study

There is ample evidence that the VTTS of public transport (PT) users is lower than that of car drivers and dropped further in recent years. One reason could be the better conditions for multitasking in PT, which improve continuously with the availability of mobile information and communication technologies. While this was addressed in several stated preference studies, revealed preference studies are scarce. None of them estimated the effect of multitasking on the VTTS and how this effect depends on activity types and travel modes. We estimate the effect of multitasking on the VTTS of PT users and car drivers using revealed preference data from a weeklong mobility and activity survey in Austria. Multitasking activities were allocated to two levels depending on whether they can be performed while driving (level 1) or not (level 2). In our two-stage modelling approach, stage 1 predicts the multitasking behaviour in non-chosen modes, while stage 2 uses these predictions to estimate the effect of multitasking on the VTTS using a mode choice model as utility framework. We find that the VTTS of PT users is lower than that of car drivers even without multitasking (5.50 vs. 14.32 €/h) and further drops with different levels of multitasking (3.95 and 3.35 €/h for levels 1 and 2), whereas the VTTS of car drivers drops only insignificantly to 14.05 €/h with level 1multitasking. The results emphasise the importance of good multitasking conditions alongside fast connections for the choice of PT.

Biological stress responses to multitasking and work interruptions: A randomized controlled trial

In the course of digitalization, new stressors are emerging. In modern working and living environments, two ubiquitous, technology-mediated stressors are multitasking demands and work interruptions. However, biological stress response patterns to multitasking and work interruptions have been sparsely investigated so far. We thus aimed to comprehensively assess biological stress response patterns to both stressors and, additionally, test whether responses differ between digital and partially non-digital settings. A controlled experimental set-up was established and humans’ biological markers of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system were assessed. N = 186 healthy participants (mean age: 23.2 ± 4.3 years, 74.7% female, body mass-index: 22.3 ± 3.1 kg/m2) took part in this pre-registered study. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of 6 experimental conditions (1 digital single-task, 3 dual-tasks [2 parallel tasks and 1 interruption], 1 multitasking, and 1 passive, control condition). Each one of the dual-tasking as well as the multitasking conditions included a non-digital sub-task, i.e., performing a task in presence of an examiner. All other conditions involved digital tasks only. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels as a marker for SNS reactivity significantly changed in work interruptions, parallel dual-tasking, and multitasking conditions. No changes were found for control conditions. Furthermore, no significant changes over time and no differences between the conditions were identified for three biological markers: cortisol as marker for HPA axis activity as well as for two immune system markers (secretory Immunoglobulin-A, C-reactive protein). A time course similar to sAA was found for perceived stress: with increases during task execution and decreases afterwards in multitasking and parallel dual-tasking. Yet, it did not change for the work interruption, passive control, and single-tasking condition. Overall, our findings show that dual- and multitasking are perceived as stressful and are associated with an activation of the SNS, but not with responses of HPA axis or immune system. This was consistent for digital as well as partially digital task demands. Our findings will also inform future research into the differential stress effects of digital and non-digital tasks to advance our understanding of biological stress response-patterns to multitasking and work interruptions. Therefore, our findings are highly relevant for understanding the long-term biological health effects of stress in modern (digitalized) environments.

Generalized Persistent Polar Format Algorithm for Fast Imaging of Airborne Video SAR

As a cutting-edge research direction in the field of radar imaging, video SAR has the capability of high-resolution and persistent imaging at any time and under any weather. Video SAR requires high computational efficiency of the imaging algorithm, and PFA has become the preferred imaging algorithm because of its applicability to the spotlight mode and relatively high computational efficiency. However, traditional PFA also has problems, such as low efficiency and limited scene size. To address the above problems, a generalized persistent polar format algorithm, called GPPFA, is proposed for airborne video SAR imaging that is applicable to the persistent imaging requirements of airborne video SAR under multitasking conditions. Firstly, the wavenumber domain resampling characteristics of video SAR PFA are analyzed, and a generalized resampling method is proposed to obtain higher efficiency. Secondly, for the problem of scene size limitation caused by wavefront curvature error, an efficient compensation method applicable to different scene sizes is proposed. GPPFA is capable of video SAR imaging at different wavebands, different slant ranges, and arbitrary scene sizes. Point target and extended target experiments verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.

Psychological and digital factors of student attitudes towards multitasking

Introduction. Despite the evidence from the cognitive approach that performance decreases under multitasking conditions, multitasking is increasingly seen as an important skill to develop, especially among young people.Aim. The present research aims to reveal personal (personal traits, satisfaction of basic needs) and digital (user activity, combined activity, attitude to technology, digital competence) factors of subjective assessment of multitasking in students and their attitude to multitasking.Methodology and research methods. In the course of the research, 260 students of Moscow universities answered questions about their multitasking and their attitude to it, and then filled out the scales for assessing subjective well-being, attitudes towards learning, personal traits, basic psychological needs, user and combined activity, attitudes to technology, digital competence and the desire for digitalisation of education. The data were processed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, group comparison methods (Pearson’s Chi-square, Student’s t-test).Results. According to the estimates of the students, they spend almost half of their daytime combining different activities. Most of students consider multitasking as a useful skill and would like to improve it. Higher multitasking scores are associated with greater conscientiousness, openness to experience, competence, positive emotions, as well as technophilia, digital skills. The desire to improve own multitasking is higher among students with a higher level of combined activity, technophilia, technorationality, as well as among students, who higher estimate the opportunities of digitalisation in education. Two out of three students consider multitasking as a useful ability; every second student thinks that multitasking can be developed by training. Multitasking and the desire to improve it are related to the attitude towards multitasking as a trained and developed skill, while the idea of its usefulness or uniqueness is practically not related to psychological and digital factors. Further research may be aimed at revealing relationships between subjective multitasking with activity diary data and experimentally organised multitasking.Scientific novelty. The attitude to multitasking format among young people was investigated from the perspective of a comprehensive approach, which combines personal characteristics and peculiarities of online activity.Practical significance. The peculiarities of students’ attitudes towards multitasking as a personal choice of doing several things simultaneously, reflecting among other things a positive attitude towards multitasking and a desire to develop it, can become a significant component to develop educational programmes, as well as important knowledge to provide interaction between teachers and students under the conditions of digitalisation in education.

The effectiveness of blended learning scientific writing training in the condition of multitasking participants

The purpose of this study was to examine a learning phenomenon that emerged during the hectic distance learning method (online), namely the multitasking phenomenon carried out by trainees. This research is interesting because currently multitasking is an obstacle as well as a challenge faced by every online training participant. The question to be answered is whether the training are effective, when participants are doing multitasking. This research was conducted on participants of the Scientific Writing Training (KTI) at the Central Statistics Agency's Education and Training Center in 2021 and 2022. The method used in this study was descriptive quantitative analysis. The results of this study show that the participation of the trainees as indicated by their virtual attendance and their focus/concentration is disrupted by the large number of workloads (multitasking). However, the participants' multitasking conditions did not affect the effectiveness of the training as indicated by the increase in the post-test scores from the pre-test scores and the completion of the paper manuscript assignment. Nevertheless, the training organizers and the leaders of the trainees still need to consider this fact to take actions to reduce multitasking tension so as to increase the level of attendance and focus/concentration of the trainees. 

Healthcare workers’ structured daily reflection on patient safety, workload and work environment in intensive care. A descriptive retrospective study

ObjectivesTo describe the results of use of structured daily reflection assessments among healthcare workers at an intensive care unit over the course of one year. MethodsIn this descriptive retrospective study, data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data encompassed 1095 work shifts, evaluated by healthcare workers at an intensive care unit using a structured daily reflection instrument. The areas evaluated were patient safety, workload and work environment, and free-text comments were possible. FindingsThe results showed that 36% (n = 395) of work shifts, most of them daytime shifts (44%; n = 161), were affected. Workload was the area that affected most work shifts (29%; n = 309). Missed nursing care, complex care and inaccurate communication impacted patient safety, while patient care, multitasking and working conditions affected workload. Work environment was impacted by organisational factors, environment, lack of control and moral stress. ConclusionUsing daily reflection among healthcare workers in the intensive care unit illuminated areas that affect patient safety, workload, and work environment. The importance of communication and collaboration and how they can impact patient safety, workload, and the work environment were highlighted by the team.

Effect of errorless learning on the acquisition of fine motor skills in pre-clinical endodontics.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of errorless and errorful learning, on acquisition of root canal hand-instrumentation skills. Dental students prepared standardised canals of different diameters and curvatures. Learning involved minimising (errorless: n=21) or maximising errors (errorful: n=21). Students who had completed accredited pre-clinical activities provided comparative data (n=17). During testing, the distal canal of a plastic mandibular molar was prepared, first as a single task and then under multi-tasking conditions. Performance was assessed by preparation accuracy and time. Differences were assessed using anova (P<0.05). Performance in the experimental groups was similar during learning. When multi-tasking, errorful learners showed a deterioration in preparation accuracy (P<0.05). In contrast, preparation accuracy and completion times for the errorless and comparative groups remained stable when multi-tasking. Errorless learning resulted in stable performance under multi-tasking conditions. Investigation of alternative approaches to learning motor skills in dentistry is warranted as such approaches may provide better outcomes, especially under demanding conditions.

Timing and relevance of secondary tasks impact multitasking performance

While digital natives are sometimes perceived as effective multitaskers, empirical studies suggest that multitasking is associated with negative learning outcomes. In this regard, an experiment was conducted to see the effects of secondary task relevance and timing on learning from multimedia presentations. A total of 356 undergraduate students were assigned randomly to either a control condition or one of the multitasking conditions (i.e., relevant-sequential, relevant-concurrent, irrelevant-sequential, and irrelevant-concurrent). While the primary task involved watching a biology video on the life cycle of the malaria parasite, the secondary tasks involved either relevant or irrelevant chat questions, which were presented either concurrently or sequentially with the primary task. Computation span and topic interest were measured as potential covariates. The computation span correlated with the gain scores towards the post-test so it was considered as a covariate. ANCOVA results revealed significant differences across the groups. The students in the control group were more successful than those in the irrelevant-sequential, the irrelevant-concurrent, and the relevant-concurrent conditions. However, the difference between the control group and the relevant-sequential group was not significant. The findings are likely to guide further research on multitasking performance and interactive video design in online learning environments.

Consumption of Fruits, Vegetables, and Nuts Can Be Increased When Multitasking with Screen Devices

ABSTRACT Past research shows that people overconsume energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods when they are not paying attention to environmental cues that encourage consumption. Very little is known about the mindless consumption of nutritious foods (herein referred to as preferred foods). Using dual-processing, limited capacity, and mood management models and theories, this study explored whether people misreport the selection of preferred and EDNP foods under differing levels of distraction created by screen media device use. Participants freely grazed on EDNP and preferred snacks while either watching TV (one screen) or multitasking with two or three screens (TV, iPod, laptop computer). Participants under-reported the number of preferred foods they selected for consumption in the three-screen multitasking conditions more than in one- and two-screen conditions. They under-reported the selection of preferred snacks more than EDNP snacks in the three-screen conditions. The under-reporting of snack selection was greater in one three-screen condition (TV+texting+online shopping) (which was evaluated as highly arousing and pleasant), than in the other three-screen condition (TV+texting+online reading) (which was rated as highly arousing but less pleasant). Compared to participants with weaker health beliefs, those with stronger beliefs about healthy lifestyle said they were more rational in selecting preferred snacks. Findings show that people sometimes eat greater amounts of preferred foods than they realize, when they are multitasking with screen devices. By surrounding oneself with snack-size fruits, vegetables, and nuts in multitasking situations, mindless eating could be a powerful nudge to facilitate greater consumption of preferred foods to combat health concerns.

Effects of age on listening and postural control during realistic multi-tasking conditions.

Successful performance of balance-related activities requires the effective integration of sensory, cognitive, and motor processes that can be affected by age-related changes. Of these age-related sensory changes, the effects of declines in hearing on balance have not been well-studied despite the fact that hearing loss has now been acknowledged as a significant risk factor for falls. The goal of this study was to evaluate age-related differences in a "standing while listening" task within increasingly challenging conditions resembling those that are often encountered in realistic, everyday situations. This study used a dual-task paradigm in an immersive Virtual Reality street scene setting in which postural load (firm, compliant), listening load (number of talkers), and visual load (eyes open/closed) were manipulated. A multi-talker divided attention listening task was used. Postural performance was assessed using center of pressure (COP) path length, while listening performance was assessed using spoken word recognition accuracy. Results demonstrated that age-related differences were observed in postural performance when postural demands were the highest and in listening performance when listening demands were the highest. Proportional dual-task costs were more pronounced for postural task performance compared to listening task performance and were more pronounced for older compared to younger adults. Postural dual-task costs increased as a function of increasing listening loads. Removal of visual information improved listening task performance across both groups and reduced the dual-task costs to listening in older adults when listening demands were highest (resulting in dual-task benefits). Taken together, the findings support previously documented age-related declines in postural control and auditory processing, demonstrate that increasing listening demands may result in poorer balance, particularly in older adults, and provide additional insights into the interactive effects of age-related declines when sensory, motor, and cognitive challenges are incremented factorially.

Correction after misinformation: Does engagement in media multitasking affect attitude adjustment?

ABSTRACT Research shows that high levels of media multitasking (either situationally induced or chronic) may be associated with decreased cognitive function. Since cognitive capacity is required for efficient correction of one’s judgment after learning that the basis of the judgement is no longer valid, we expected that high levels of media multitasking would decrease one’s ability to adequately update one’s beliefs. We ran two studies in which participants were asked to form an impression of a target person based on their profile on a professional networking site. The profile contained either neutral information (control condition) or a negative comment which was later disproven (false-information conditions). We additionally manipulated media multitasking demands (in Study 1) or measured participants’ frequency of media multitasking (Study 2) and tested whether the level of media multitasking is related to the degree to which the initial attitudes were adjusted after learning that the negative comment was false. We found a significant but rather small effect of the manipulation in Study 1 indicating that participants in both multitasking conditions had more negative attitudes after the correction compared to the baseline, but not to the mono-tasking condition. Crucially, media multitasking demands did not impact attitude adjustment. The results of Study 2 showed that the relationship between media-multitasking frequency measured with a scale and attitude adjustment was non-significant. Overall, the findings provide no evidence that media multitasking – whether experimentally manipulated or chronic – plays a role in correction after misinformation. The study data and code are available at https://osf.io/xu6qd/

Increase in Brain Effective Connectivity in Multitasking but not in a High-Fatigue State

Multitasking has become omnipresent in daily activities and increased brain connectivity under high workload conditions has been reported. Moreover, the effect of fatigue on neural activity has been shown in participants performing cognitive tasks, but the effect of fatigue on different cognitive workload conditions is unclear. In this article, we investigated the effect of fatigue on changes in effective connectivity (EC) across the brain network under distinctive workload conditions. There were 133 electroencephalography (EEG) data sets collected from 16 participants over a five-month study, in which high-risk, reduced, and normal states of real-world fatigue were identified through a daily sampling system. The participants were required to perform a lane-keeping task (LKT) with/without multimodal dynamic attention-shifting (DAS) tasks. The results show that the EC magnitude is positively correlated with the increased workload in normal and reduced states. However, low EC was discovered in the high-risk state under high workload conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this investigation is the first EEG-based longitudinal study of real-world fatigue under multitasking conditions. These results could be beneficial for real-life applications, and adaptive models are essential for monitoring important brain patterns under varying workload demands and fatigue states.

A Novel Square-Stepping Exercise Program for Older Adults (StepIt): Rationale and Implications for Falls Prevention.

The ability to effectively execute compensatory steps is critical for preventing accidental falls, and consequently stepping training is an essential ingredient of fall prevention programs. In this paper, we propose a concept for stepping training that aims to maximize training effects by taking into account recent research evidence and a precise dosing of training ingredients. The concept addresses motor as well as cognitive falls-related aspects, it is suitable for individual as well as group based training, and it does not require costly equipment. Theory and evidence behind all of the training principles is reviewed, and an example of an exercise protocol is described in detail. Participants are presented with stepping patterns which they have to memorize and implement on a mat. In order to enable investigation of dose-response effects, the difficulty level systematically and gradually increases session by session based on four principles: execution speed, pattern complexity, pattern length and execution in dual-/multi-tasking conditions. The presented concept can be used as a framework for the development of further prevention and/or rehabilitation stepping exercise programs. Further studies using this exercise regimen or modified versions of it are encouraged.

Multitasking impairs learning from multimedia across gifted and non-gifted students

Multitasking refers to the simultaneous execution of two or more tasks. Perceived multitasking superiority of the digital natives and gifted students in the popular education literature need to be investigated with robust studies. In this regard, the effect of different multitasking scenarios on multimedia learning was investigated with 93 gifted and 121 non-gifted middle school students. The respondents were assigned randomly to three different scenarios: Monotasking (i.e. watching an instructional video without interruption), concurrent multitasking (i.e. texting during an instructional video) and sequential multitasking (i.e. watching instructional and distractive videos successively). In addition to content learning, the students’ scores on topic interest, daily multitasking habits, subjective cognitive load and working memory capacity were considered. Working memory capacity correlated positively with learning outcomes. After it was included as a covariate, the results of a two-way between-groups ANCOVA revealed that multitasking conditions interfered with learning. Gifted students were consistently more successful than non-gifted students, but suffered during concurrent multitasking. Therefore, organizing instructional interventions according to an empirically questionable multitasking superiority seems problematic.