Impact of media multitasking on executive function in adolescents: behavioral and self-reported evidence from a one-year longitudinal study

Abstract

PurposeThe longitudinal impact of media multitasking on the development of executive function has been understudied, as most of the existing studies are cross-sectional. This longitudinal study addresses this research gap and uses multiple measures, i.e. behavioral and self-reported, to explore the impact of media multitasking on the executive function of Chinese adolescents.Design/methodology/approachThis study followed 99 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.41, SD = 1.10; 42 boys and 57 girls) for one year using both behavioral (2-back, Stroop Color and Number-letter tasks) and self-reported (questionnaire) measures. The adolescents were categorized as either heavy/high media multitaskers (HMMs; 19 boys and 29 girls) or light/low media multitaskers (LMMs; 23 boys and 28 girls). They were tested at baseline, 6 months later and 12 months later.FindingsThe results indicated that the accuracy scores for all cognitive tasks differed with age, but the switch-cost in the shifting task and the self-reported measures of executive function did not. And there were consistent differences between the HMMs and LMMs in the self-reported measures and 2-back accuracy. However, the interaction effect was found only in shifting ability, indicating a decline in the LMMs' self-reported problematic shifting behavior in daily life.Originality/valueThis study used behavioral and self-reported measures to confirm the longitudinal impact of media multitasking on executive function. The impact of media multitasking on executive function is more apparent in daily-life behavior than in cognitive task performance.

Personality Traits and Family SES Moderate the Relationship between Media Multitasking and Reasoning Performance

“…According to the scattered attention hypothesis, people who engage in media multitasking more frequently possess lower levels of cognitive abilities than those who less often engage in media multitasking (e.g., Müller et al 2021;Ophir et al 2009). Consistent with this hypothesis, research shows that heavy multitaskers (HMMs) exhibited worse performance on tasks of executive functions, including updating (Luo et al 2022), inhibition (Baumgartner et al 2014;Murphy and Creux 2021), and shifting (Ophir et al 2009) in comparison to light media multitaskers (LMMs). In a seminal study, Ophir et al (2009) grouped participants to HMMs (1 SD or more above the mean) and LMMs (1 SD or more below the mean), and assessed their capacities of updating, shifting, and inhibition.…”

“…A complication to the situation is that a number of studies reported no relation between the frequency of media multitasking and cognitive abilities ( Van der Schuur et al 2015 ). Specifically, LMMs do not differ from HMMs in updating ( Edwards and Shin 2017 ), inhibition ( Luo et al 2022 ; Müller et al 2021 ; Ophir et al 2009 ), shifting ( Baumgartner et al 2014 ; Luo et al 2022 ; Minear et al 2013 ; Müller et al 2021 ), and reasoning ( Loh and Lim 2020 ).…”

Cognitive Flexibility and Stability at the Task-Set Level: A Dual-Dimension Framework

“…Although the impacts of media multitasking on cognitive measures are strongly contested and directionally inconsistent (e.g., Luo et al, 2021Luo et al, , 2022Murphy & Shin, 2022;Parry & Le Roux, 2021;Schneider & Chun, 2021;Wiradhany & Nieuwenstein, 2017), when reported, such effects tend to selectively impact switch costs and not laboratory stability indexes (e.g., Alzahabi & Becker, 2013;Ophir 13 et al, 2009;Wiradhany & Nieuwenstein, 2017). A similar pattern appears when using self-report flexibility and stability as opposed to task-based measures: Reported flexibility, but not stability, differs based on media multitasking (Luo et al, 2022).…”

Exposure to Nature Sounds through a Mobile Application in Daily Life: Effects on Learning Performance among University Students

“…Many university students are nowadays suffering from mental fatigue and stress caused by busy and competitive daily activities [ 1 , 2 ], learning with highly cognitive demanding tasks [ 3 , 4 ], and extensive use of digital devices in their daily work [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Research shows that exposure to natural environments has substantial benefits for improving psychological well-being (e.g., positive effect) and cognitive performance (e.g., working memory) [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], which have the potential to improve learning performance.…”