ArticlePloS one2019
Putting a stereotype to the test: The case of gender differences in multitasking costs in task-switching and dual-task situations.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Advancing an account of hierarchical dual-task control: A focused review on abstract higher-level task representations in dual-task situations.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2026Review
- Men talk less than women during multitasking.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Effects of a secondary mental task and additional auditory feedback on body movements and EEG.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Dissociating Task Selection and Response Selection in Dual-Task Contexts: Evidence from a Novel Trial-by-Trial Analysis of Temporal Overlap between Tasks.Journal of cognition · 2026Article
- Common and unique network basis for externally and internally driven flexibility in cognition: From a developmental perspective.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025Article
- Task-switching mechanisms under methamphetamine cravings: sex differences in cued and voluntary task-switching.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Gender differences in operational and cognitive abilities.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Task Switching: On the Relation of Cognitive Flexibility with Cognitive Capacity.Journal of Intelligence · 2023Article
- Mutual interference between memory encoding and motor skills: the influence of motor expertise.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Parenthood and science careers: the impact is not the same for everyone.Epidemiologia e servicos de saude : revista do Sistema Unico de Saude do Brasil · 2022Article
- Translation, Adaptation, and Validation of a Multitasking Instrument in the Context of Collectivist Asian Culture.Psychology in Russia : state of the art · 2022Article
- Exploring the Dimensions of Smartphone Distraction: Development, Validation, Measurement Invariance, and Latent Mean Differences of the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS).Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Functional Connectivity and Networks Underlying Complex Tool-Use Movement in Assembly Workers: An fMRI Study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- Mobile Phone Use "on the Road": A Self-Report Study on Young Drivers.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
According to a popular stereotype, women are better at multitasking than men, but empirical evidence for gender differences in multitasking performance is mixed. Previous work has focused on specific aspects of multitasking or has not considered gender differences in abilities contributing to multitasking performance. We therefore tested gender differences (N = 96, 50% female) in sequential (i.e., task switching) and concurrent (i.e., dual tasking) multitasking, while controlling for possible gender differences in working memory, processing speed, spatial abilities, and fluid intelligence. Applying two standard experimental paradigms allowed us to test multitasking abilities across five different empirical indices (i.e., performance costs) for both reaction time (RT) and accuracy measures, respectively. Multitasking resulted in substantial performance costs across all experimental conditions without a single significant gender difference in any of these ten measures, even when controlling for gender differences in underlying cognitive abilities. Thus, our results do not confirm the widespread stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men at least in the popular sequential and concurrent multitasking settings used in the present study.
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