The Negative Impacts Of Multitasking On Students' Memory

Observations of Psychology Professors' Studies

Annie Murphy writes about the observations of a psychology professor of the California State University named Larry Rosen on the activities that the students engaged in between study hours. The paper of Annie Murphy records the observation of around 263 students from middle school, high school and colleges where the students were followed by the investigators in every possible place where homework are done. The investigators have been learnt to be a part of Larry Rosen's lab and observed the behaviour of the students for a quarter of an hour. The result of the test showed that in fifteen minutes the students only put about 65% of their attention into the school work. Murphy forecasts the results on the irresistible habits of the students of engaging in media multitasking from the perception of other renowned professors of psychology from other prestigious Universitatis like University of Vermont. The two professors from this institution show that 42% of the times students tend to get diverted into non-substantial behaviours through non-course related websites while using their laptops.  Other observations from St. John's University in New York forecast the result on student behaviour that 58% of the students from second and third years were distracted by several technological activities. The study of David Meyer, a psychology professor from the University of Michigan has also been included in the write up on the Marshmallow test by Annie Murphy. The negative influence of the multitasking behaviour which has resulted from these researchers' works is also included in the article.

The article on the New Marshmallow Test by Annie Murphy focuses on the context of multitasking of the students of the new generation that has been hammering their memory. The article directs the attention of the readers towards a checklist of the series of activities that are performed by the students when they are supposed to be studying. The behaviour of the students during "on-task behaviour" has been highlighted in the course of the marshmallow test (Paul). Considering the test conducted by Larry Rosen, the psychology professor of the California State University, the 263 student participants from colleges, middle and high schools being observed in places like living rooms, kitchen, dens and bedrooms for a quarter of an hour showed that only 65% of their attention remains on their coursework. Following the observations of other psychology professors’ universities like, St. John’s University and University of Michigan the course of negative impacts of multitasking recorded on student's memories are- delay in completing the assignments, mental fatigue, impairing memory and disruption in the brain activities of memory storage (Paul). From analysing the study by Rosen, it has been noticed that the students who spent time on non-course related websites like Facebook, has acquired lower grades than the students who did not. Thus, these influences have been known to be harming the career growth of the students by hammering academic learning. Taking guidance from the marshmallow experiment of Walter Mischel on delayed gratification, Rosen through his studies advises the students to take "tech breaks" for satisfying their cravings only after devoting uninterrupted labour and time on the schoolwork.

Paul, Annie Murphy. "The New Marshmallow Test: Students Can’t Resist Multitasking." Slate. com. May 3 (2013).