Multitasking
一心多用

People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests. The findings, based on performances and self-evaluation by about 275 college students, indicate that many people multitask not out of a desire to increase productivity, but because they are easily distracted and can't focus on one activity. And “those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things,” said David Sanbonmatsu, a psychologist at the University of Utah.
一项新的研究表明，经常一心多用的人可能最不擅长同时做两件事。这项基于275名大学生的表现和自我评估的研究结果表明，许多人一心多用不是为了提高工作效率，而是因为他们容易分心，无法专注于一项活动。“这些人最不善于处理不同的事情”，犹他大学的心理学家大卫·三本松说。

Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues gave the students a set of tests and asked them to report how often they multitasked, how good they thought they were at it, and how sensation-seeking or imperative they were. They then evaluated the participants' multitasking ability with a tricky mental task that required the students to do simple mathematical calculations while remembering a set of letters.
三本松和他的同事给学生们做了一系列测试，并要求他们报告一心多用的频率，认为自己的表现如何，以及寻求刺激或者冲动的程度。然后，他们通过一项复杂的心理任务来评估参与者的一心多用处理能力，该任务要求学生们在记住一组字母的同时进行简单的数学计算。

Not surprisingly, the scientists said, most people thought they were better than average at multitasking, and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior, which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted.
科学家们说，不出所料，大多数人认为他们在一心多用方面比高于平均水平，而那些认为自己在这方面做得更好的人更有可能在开车或观看多种媒体时使用手机，而那些经常一心多用的人在实际的多任务测试中表现最差。他们也更可能承认有寻求刺激和冲动的行为，这与他们容易感到无聊和分心有关。

“People multitask not because it's going to lead to greater productivity, but because they're distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important．” Sanbonmatsu said．
三本松说：“人们一心多用并不是因为生产率会更高，而是因为他们容易分心，会陷入不那么重要的事情中”。

Adam Gazzaley, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not a member of the research group, said one limitation of the study was that it couldn't find out whether people who start out less focused toward multitasking or whether people's recognizing and understanding abilities change as a result of multitasking．
旧金山加利福尼亚大学的研究者亚当·格萨雷（非研究小组成员）说这项研究的一项不足是，它不能发现是否是注意力不集中的人们倾向于一心多用还是人们的认识和理解能力由于一心多用的结果而发生了变化。

The findings do suggest, however, why the sensation-seeker who multitask the most may enjoy risky distracted driving．“People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations.” said Paul Atchley, another researcher not in the group. “This may partly explain why people go in for these situations even though they're dangerous.”
然而，研究结果确实表明，为什么一心多用的寻求刺激者可能更喜欢危险的分心驾驶。“一心多用的人通常对危险情况不那么敏感。”另一位非小组研究人员保罗·阿奇利说。“这可能部分解释了为什么人们会在这些危险的情况下冒险。”