Everyday functioning-related cognitive correlates of media multitasking:a mini meta-analysis

A recent meta-analysis has shown that media multitasking behavior, or consuming multiple streams of media simultaneously, might not be associated with less efficient cognitive processing, as measured with objective tests. Nevertheless, a growing number of studies have reported that media multitasking is correlated with cognitive functioning in everyday situations, as measured in self-reports. Here, in a series of mini meta-analyses, we show that the self-reported correlates of media multitasking can be categorized in at least four major themes. Heavy media multitasking was associated with increasing problems with attention regulation (e.g., increased mind-wandering and distractibility), behavior regulation (e.g., emotion regulation and self-monitor), inhibition/impulsiveness (e.g., higher level of impulsiveness and lower level of inhibition), and memory. However, the pooled effect sizes were small (z =.16 to z = .22), indicating that a large proportion of variance of media multitasking behavior is still unaccounted for. Additionally, we witnessed a high level of heterogeneity in the attention regulation theme, which might indicate the presence of the risk of study bias

Exploring the variability of media multitasking choice behaviour using a network approach

Many researchers have used the Media Multitasking Index (MMI) for investigating media multitasking behaviour. While useful as a means to compare inter-individual multitasking levels, the MMI disregards the variability in media multitasking choice behaviour: certain media combinations are more likely to be selected than others, and these patterns might differ from one population to another. The aim of the present study was to examine media multitasking choices in different populations. For this means, we employed a social network approach to render MMI responses collected in eight different populations into networks. The networks showed that the level of media multitasking as measured by the network densities differed across populations, yet, the pattern of media multitasking behaviour was similar. Specifically, media combinations which involved texting/IMing, listening to music, browsing, and social media were prominent in most datasets. Overall the findings indicate that media multitasking behaviours might be confined within a smaller set of media activities. Accordingly, instead of assessing a large number of media combinations, future studies might consider focusing on a more limited set of media types

Cognitive control in media multitaskers:Two replication studies and a meta-Analysis

Ophir, Nass, and Wagner (2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(37), 15583–15587) found that people with high scores on the media-use questionnaire—a questionnaire that measures the proportion of media-usage time during which one uses more than one medium at the same time—show impaired performance on various tests of distractor filtering. Subsequent studies, however, did not all show this association between media multitasking and distractibility, thus casting doubt on the reliability of the initial findings. Here, we report the results of two replication studies and a meta-analysis that included the results from all published studies into the relationship between distractor filtering and media multitasking. Our replication studies included a total of 14 tests that had an average replication power of 0.81. Of these 14 tests, only five yielded a statistically significant effect in the direction of increased distractibility for people with higher scores on the media-use questionnaire, and only two of these effects held in a more conservative Bayesian analysis. Supplementing these outcomes, our meta-analysis on a total of 39 effect sizes yielded a weak but significant association between media multitasking and distractibility that turned nonsignificant after correction for small-study effects. Taken together, these findings lead us to question the existence of an association between media multitasking and distractibility in laboratory tasks of information processing

Media multitasking, mind-wandering, and distractibility:A large-scale study

Previous studies suggest that frequent media multitasking - the simultaneous use of different media at the same time - may be associated with increased susceptibility to internal and external sources of distraction. At the same time, other studies found no evidence for such associations. In the current study, we report the results of a large-scale study (N=261) in which we measured media multitasking with a short media-use questionnaire and measured distraction with a change-detection task that included different numbers of distractors. To determine whether internally generated distraction affected performance, we deployed experience-sampling probes during the change-detection task. The results showed that participants with higher media multitasking scores did not perform worse as distractor set size increased, they did not perform worse in general, and their responses on the experience-sampling probes made clear that they also did not experience more lapses of attention during the task. Critically, these results were robust across different methods of analysis (i.e., Linear Mixed Modeling, Bayes factors, and extreme-groups comparison). At the same time, our use of the short version of the media-use questionnaire might limit the generalizability of our findings. In light of our results, we suggest that future studies should ensure an adequate level of statistical power and implement a more precise measure for media multitasking

Growing Out of the Experience: How Subjective Experiences of Effort and Learning Influence the Use of Interleaved Practice

In higher education, many students make poor learning strategy decisions. This, in part, results from the counterintuitive nature of effective learning strategies: they enhance long-term learning but also cost high initial effort and appear to not improve learning (immediately). This mixed-method study investigated how students make learning strategy decisions in category learning, and whether students can be supported to make effective strategy decisions through a metacognitive prompt, designed to support accurate monitoring of effort and learning. Participants (N = 150) studied painting styles through blocked and interleaved practice, rated their perceived effort and perceived learning across time, and chose between either blocked or interleaved practice. Half of the participants (N = 74) were provided with a metacognitive prompt that showed them how their subjective experiences per strategy changed across time and required them to relate these experiences to the efficacy of learning strategies. Results indicated that subjective experiences with interleaved practice improved across time: students’ perceived learning increased as their perceived effort decreased. Mediation analysis revealed that the increased feeling of learning increased the likelihood to select interleaved practice. The percentage of students who chose interleaved practice increased from 13 to 40%. Students’ learning strategy decisions, however, did not benefit from the metacognitive prompt. Qualitative results revealed that students initially had inaccurate beliefs about the efficacy of learning strategies, but on-task experiences overrode the influence of prior beliefs in learning strategy decisions. This study suggests that repeated monitoring of effort and learning have the potential to improve the use of interleaved practice

Multimedia-minded: media multitasking, cognition, and behavior

In our current media-saturated environment, our ability to interleave between one stream of information and another, or media multitasking, is highly valuable. At the same time, however, studies have suggested that media multitasking might lead people to become more vulnerable toward distraction. This thesis presents a collection of studies which aimed to answer three questions: What constitutes the media multitasking behavior, is media multitasking associated with increased distractibility, and to what extent does the presence of media devices influence our ability to process information? Respectively, we found that media multitasking behavior revolves around a small set of prominent media combinations involving Texting, Browsing, Listening to music, and Accessing social media. We found no association between media multitasking and distractibility as measured in task performance, yet we did find weak associations between media multitasking and self-report measures of distractibility. Lastly, we found a small reduction in task performance under the presence of media devices, in particular the participant’s own mobile phone, even when there was no interaction with this device. These findings are discussed in light of the paradoxical nature of media multitasking: People are likely to be aware of the costs of media multitasking, but they may continue to do so to maintain a balance between exploitation (i.e., ensuring optimal task performance) and exploration (i.e., switching from one task to another) behaviors. Accordingly, given the limited evidence on the association between media multitasking and increased distractibility and considering the paradoxical nature of the behavior, future studies might be interested to evaluate the benefits of media multitasking in addition to its potential costs