Study finds minimal gender differences in multitasking ability

A new study published in Psychological Research suggests that men and women perform similarly in most multitasking scenarios, challenging the popular stereotype that women are inherently better at managing multiple tasks.

Researchers from City St George’s, University of London, conducted experiments involving five simultaneous tasks, including a cooking task, searching for phone numbers, and monitoring words on a screen under increasing time pressure. The study found no statistically significant differences between genders in four out of the five tasks.

The primary discrepancy appeared during a verbal communication task. While the quality and speed of responses were comparable once provided, men were significantly more likely to ignore questions. On average, women answered approximately 24.76 out of 28 questions, whereas men answered 20.24. This difference in conversational persistence under pressure may contribute to the perception of gender-based multitasking superiority.