Increasingly, students engage in multitasking during lecture by shifting their attention between class material and irrelevant information from texts and webpages. It is well established that this divided attention impairs memory and learning. Less is known about how to correct the problem. This study used an educational intervention in the form of a PowerPoint presentation that informed students in the experimental condition about the deleterious effects of multitasking. Students were randomly assigned to the experimental condition, the placebo condition (a slideshow about sleep), or no intervention. Participants self-reported the percentage of the time they multitasked in class and paid attention at two time points, baseline (before the intervention), and in a second lab visit 3 weeks later. The experimental intervention did not reduce student multitasking or increase student attention, relative to the other conditions. Supplementary research questions examined students’ beliefs about multitasking, finding that most thought it decreased their grades. The correlations between grade point average, stress, and boredom proneness, on one hand, and baseline attention and multitasking in class, on the other, were also inspected, revealing that students with higher grade point average pay more attention in class and multitask less. Suggestions for future research to reduce multitasking are made, including having students engage in multitasking to observe the effect on their memory retention.

中文翻译：

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课堂多任务处理：测试教育干预作为减少多任务处理的方法

越来越多的学生在讲座期间通过将注意力转移到课堂材料和来自文本和网页的不相关信息之间来进行多任务处理。众所周知，这种分散的注意力会损害记忆和学习。关于如何纠正问题知之甚少。本研究使用 PowerPoint 演示文稿形式的教育干预，让处于实验条件下的学生了解多任务处理的有害影响。学生被随机分配到实验条件、安慰剂条件（关于睡眠的幻灯片）或不干预。参与者自我报告了他们在课堂上同时处理多项任务并在两个时间点集中注意力的时间百分比，基线（干预前）和 3 周后的第二次实验室访问。相对于其他条件，实验干预并没有减少学生的多任务处理或增加学生的注意力。补充研究问题检查了学生对多任务处理的看法，发现大多数人认为这会降低他们的成绩。一方面，平均绩点、压力和无聊倾向与基线注意力和课堂多任务处理之间的相关性也被检查，表明平均成绩点高的学生在课堂上注意力更多，多任务处理更少。对未来减少多任务处理的研究提出了建议，包括让学生参与多任务处理以观察对他们记忆保留的影响。补充研究问题检查了学生对多任务处理的看法，发现大多数人认为这会降低他们的成绩。一方面，平均绩点、压力和无聊倾向与基线注意力和课堂多任务处理之间的相关性也被检查，表明平均成绩点高的学生在课堂上注意力更多，多任务处理更少。对未来减少多任务处理的研究提出了建议，包括让学生参与多任务处理以观察对他们记忆保持的影响。补充研究问题检查了学生对多任务处理的看法，发现大多数人认为这会降低他们的成绩。一方面，平均绩点、压力和无聊倾向与基线注意力和课堂多任务处理之间的相关性也被检查，表明平均成绩点高的学生在课堂上注意力更多，多任务处理更少。对未来减少多任务处理的研究提出了建议，包括让学生参与多任务处理以观察对他们记忆保持的影响。揭示平均绩点较高的学生在课堂上注意力更集中，同时处理多项任务的次数更少。对未来减少多任务处理的研究提出了建议，包括让学生参与多任务处理以观察对他们记忆保持的影响。揭示平均绩点较高的学生在课堂上注意力更集中，同时处理多项任务的次数更少。对未来减少多任务处理的研究提出了建议，包括让学生参与多任务处理以观察对他们记忆保持的影响。