http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcas...g-09-07-15

To avoid sidetracking another thread.

I'd cut and paste key parts of the article if I wasn't on an iPhone.

I don't know if multitasking is real or just an extension of the ability to keep track of multiple tasks while, in reality, only doing one at a time.  I do know that multi tasking was a real nemesis of mine for most of my working life, but I am starting to get a handle on it through physical means such as keeping lists and notes.

More fun to read are the comments (25 so far)

I think that multi-tasking is doing two or more things at once.  I can NOT multi task.  I can only focus on one task at a time.

Not a problem for me.  I typically do several things at once and can't imagine why Vernu gets so surprised.  I can simultaneously follow a movie on tv whilst doing a sudoku and jumping up every few minutes to give the bolognese on the stove a stir.  I'll typically also be memorising a new kanji form in my head and linking it mentally to which word and it's various grammar usages it has.  This ability is only there when I'm relaxing though.  I find it annoying when I'm deeply concentrating on one thing to have to break off and do something else.  But it's a useful ability to have, and one that was particularly useful when I was working with 25 preschoolers in a class.
Alison