3 ms·
https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/experiment_multitasking.html https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/experiment_mul... for the actual runnab
by dtran 2y ago
https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/experiment_multitasking.html https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/experiment_mul... for the actual runnable experiment. Shared my results below (I'm pretty tired at the moment so don't feel my sharpest)— super curious what others got.
I've been trying to eliminate multi-tasking as much as I can, but the nature of startups day-to-day and even what seems like a single/monotask when zoomed out now often involves context switching (For say, investigating and fixing a user-reported bug, I might have to toggle between VSCode, localhost in browser + the DOM inspector or console, our bug tracker, our support ticketing tool, Slack, and sometimes the Cody window in VS Code/ChatGPT/Claude:
RT in pure trials: 448ms
RT in mixed trials: 710ms
Mixing cost: 262ms
RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 710ms
RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 975ms
Task-switch cost: 265ms
- userbinator 2y agoFirst time: RT in pure trials: 490ms RT in mixed trials: 825ms Mixing cost: 335ms RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 825ms RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 969ms Task-switch cost: 144ms Second time (while listening to music --- I decided to do this since I've noticed it somehow decreases my latency in typing tests significantly): RT in pure trials: 436ms RT in mixed trials: 673ms Mixing cost: 237ms RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 673ms RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 746ms Task-switch cost: 73ms Edit: third time, also while listening to music: RT in pure trials: 435ms RT in mixed trials: 608ms Mixing cost: 173ms RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 608ms RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 700ms Task-switch cost: 92ms I suspect this "game" is also amenable to practice, and find it at least a bit weirdly addictive in the same way as Flappy Bird.
- darthrupert 2y agoFascinating that you're measuring milliseconds where I'm having context switches that cost me minutes to hours to days.
- userbinator 2y agoI don't think this game is all that representative of context-switching overhead, as my 4th attempt gives evidence that this improves quickly with practice: RT in pure trials: 422ms RT in mixed trials: 611ms Mixing cost: 189ms RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 611ms RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 602ms Task-switch cost: -9ms The "mixed trials" are naturally slower because I'm having to recognise 4 patterns instead of 2, but only by ~50%.
- dtran 2y agoWhoa, a negative task-switch cost! I didn't take it multiple times, but it makes sense that having practice at this specific task probably improves both your overall response times and maybe more specifically improves the different trials. What I'm curious about is whether we also get specifically good at say, task-switching between a code editor and say, Stack Overflow, over time
- dang 2y agoYeah it might be more fun to have that be the top link, so I've switched it from https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/multitasking.html https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/multitasking.h... now. Thanks! Interested readers should take a look at both of course.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rickyyean 2y agoHere's mine on first-try: RT in pure trials: 463ms RT in mixed trials: 833ms Mixing cost: 369ms RT in task-repeat trials (in mixed blocks): 833ms RT in task-switching trials (in mixed blocks): 1040ms Task-switch cost: 207ms