Spontaneous organization in task-switching reflects self-reported polychronicity and media multitasking tendency

Abstract

Studies on media multitasking behavior and task-switching performance have yielded mixed results. The present preliminary study (N = 40) focused on task management, and not performance, by allowing participants to choose the switching frequency between tasks all along the experiment. This design revealed two different patterns of organization, with many participants choosing no variation at all and sticking to this organization throughout the entire experiment. We found no impact of organization type on performance. The participants who switched more often scored higher on polychronicity (i.e., preference for multitasking) and media multitasking scales. We did not find any relationship between executive functioning and task organization or media multitasking scores, but this result should be regarded with caution given the limited sample size. In broad terms, individuals tend to declare a media multitasking tendency in line with their spontaneous organization on multiple tasks, with more sequentially organized participants reporting lower media multitasking behavior. These results point to a seemingly global individual strategy to approach multiple tasks.