The Cognitive Cost of Multitasking in High-Stress Professions: Implications for Mental Efficiency, Error Rates, and Long-Term Cognitive Health

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of multitasking on both the mind and brain of highly stressed health care workers in Pakistan. Since health care situations often involve many tasks happening simultaneously, the researchers decided to measure the relationship between multitasking, stress from information overload, rates of mistakes and the performance of neurocognitive functions with numbers. Researchers randomly chose 120 healthcare professionals from hospitals and medical institutions from various regions of Pakistan. Data were collected using organized questionnaires that were analyzed with the use of correlation, regression and ANOVA methods. It was found that an increase in mental load was strongly correlated with multitasking, showing that raising the amount of multitasking leads to greater mental demand. Both regression and ANOVA showed that performing more than one task at a time strongly affected memory, decision-making speed and how matters of emotion were managed. This result matches research done before which reveals that multitasking triggers brain areas that relate to control, stress and tiredness of the mind, as well as weaker concentration and mood problems. The study stresses that immediate changes in the workplace structure and new ways to organize the mind are needed to reduce stress from multitasking for health workers. Providing evidence for understanding the bad effects of doing multiple tasks at once, this research helps to inform new work policies and designs aimed at supporting health professionals’ mental health and job safety.