The simultaneous execution of multiple cases "breaks" the brain

The hemispheres of the brain operate independently of each other, when a person is busy with two complex cases at the same time, scientists have found. Each of them performs its task and can not solve a third, according to a paper published in Science. 

"This means that in everyday life, you can easily combine the two things at once, such as cooking and talking on the phone," - said the French scholar of the Medical Center, INSERM Etienne Koechlin. However, she said, when a person tries to do the third task, the cerebral cortex simply ignores it.

Scientists have conducted research on the algorithm of the brain, when he switches from one case to two. To do this they used a group of volunteers, consisting of 16 men and 16 women aged from 19 to 32 years.
Participants of the experiment on the screen in turn saw the letters comprising the word "tablet". They needed to determine whether the previous two letters shown in the same order in which they are in the word. At the same time volunteers were supposed to indicate whether the letters lowercase or uppercase. And their brains scanned for viruses by the method of resonance magnetic imaging.

It turned out that the performance of a problem both hemispheres of the brain were occupied exclusively by it. But as soon as the volunteers were switched on two tasks simultaneously, their brains share the responsibilities between the hemispheres. In this case each half of the brain involved in decision their problems.

Once these two tasks had been added one more - the definition of color letters on the screen - the researchers found that a third simple task simultaneously with the first two brains do not have a state. At the same time, they say, banal reason: he simply is not the third hemisphere. Therefore, volunteers are constantly forget to follow one of the problems, according to Morning.

Nevertheless, some experts about the study of French colleagues were skeptical. "This suggests that there are conditions under which you can not add a third task, but it all depends on the type of problems" - said the American neuroscientist Scott Hyuttel.

For example, he said, people can easily do other things while eating, because motor skills used in the absorption of food, not really intersect with other skills. Nevertheless Hyuttel noted that the study found a lack of knowledge of the cerebral hemispheres.