I think multi-tasking compared to concentration compares well with animal reaction compared to thought. It is easy to multi-task things that require routine and little constant conscious thought and can bear interruption for immediate response. Women are supposed to be better at it than men but that is a comparison involving 'traditional' roles where women have often had several things going at once, none of them requiring constant attention or much thought while men have been in work that either requires constant attention but little thought on an assembly line or dedicated concentration in a 'profession'.
I don't believe that a female surgeon is any more capable of performing while conducting a conversation than a male, though she may be better at commenting on what she is doing simply because girls grow up less discouraged from talking about themselves. On the other hand, a professional team sportsman could be said to be multi-tasking if the detailed parts of what is involved in team sport are all treated as individual but integrated functions.
It is easy to multi-task activities that don't require much conscious attention. We do it all the time, unlike President Ford, most of us can walk and chew gum at the same time and even hold a phone conversation as well. We can't so easily drive through a city negotiating a contract on one phone and asking directions on another while discussion physics with a passenger and listening to a radio lecture on archeology.
|