Americans are becoming more and more comfortable with multitasking, and a new study from the University of Sussex might have an explanation for its relation to the brain. Kep Kee Loh and fellow researchers studied 75 adults and asked them how much they multitask by engaging in more than one form of media at a time. Checking your Facebook while also watching a TV show would be the kind of multitasking they're looking for. Participants were put in an MRI to see how their brains differed. Those who answered positively to heavy media multitasking were shown to have less anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) grey matter in their brains.
"Reduced ACC gray matter volumes and activations have been implicated in several socio-emotional disorders such as depression, OCD [and] addictive disorders," Loh told the Huffington Post. He also said general "cognitive abilities" might be less for people in this category. The ACC is known for many uses in the brain. It is said to control things ranging from blood pressure to decision-making. If media multitasking is causing this phenomena, it could represent a serious problem for modern adults and children.
The only problem with the study is that of causality. The researchers were not able to establish if that low concentration of grey matter was what caused the affinity for multitasking or if multitasking caused that part of the brain to lessen.