How Does Multitasking Work?
‘Stimulus identification’ is the first step in the task-switching process. When you are interrupted, you must interpret the interruption in the context of previous learning and experiences. Cues in the environment (e.g., your colleague enters your office, the phone rings) require that you reorient yourself by asking, “Where was I?” Next, you must determine the steps required to complete the new task. This ‘response selection’ process begins with goal shifting. Assume you’ve answered your colleague’s question regarding the report. Your goal was to give her some necessary insight. When that goal is accomplished, you replace it with a different one. Your new goal may be to handle the letter you were reading when your colleague interrupted you. To activate your new goal, you must ‘unload’ the procedural rules required by the previous task, and ‘load’ the series of learned procedures or ‘rules’ relevant to the new task. With the rules for processing letters in place in your working memory,
