Juggling the many tasks in today's technological era can hurt learning, performance and short-term memory, especially in older people, according a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Study participants were asked to look at a scene, and were then interrupted for several seconds by an image of a person's face. They were asked to identify the person's gender and approximate age, and then returned to answer questions about the earlier scene. Older subjects found it more difficult to reestablish contact with the scene, the researchers found.

Although the study did not specifically examine the effect of interruptions from cell phones or other devices, the results provide a “clear extrapolation” to the impact of a stream of incoming rings and buzzes, according to Dr. Adam Gazzaley, a neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco.

The test also used real-time imaging, which showed differences in the brains of younger people and older people following an interruption. In younger subjects, the brain areas that had been engaged during interruption ceased to be engaged more quickly, but in older subjects, those areas continued to remain stimulated.

The study examines the working memory that people use when doing a work project or having a conversation. Although the study did not examine multitasking and long-term memory, Dr. Gazzaley said there was a relationship between one's ability to develop long-term memories and the amount of time he spends focused on a particular experience. In other words, if interruptions make it difficult for older people to remember what they were doing in the short run, it also could hurt their abilities to record those experiences over the long run, he said.

For more information, visit The Gazzaley lab website.

Special Reports /

IQ: Study: Multitasking Takes Toll on Memory

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