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Science reveals people are capable of multitasking — it just requires practice

Nbcwashington · · 1091 words · By David Cox; NBC News
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What to know about Science reveals people are capable of multitasking — it just requires practice

Your brain is capable of learning to multitask without your realizing it, according to a new study.

Claims checked 10
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Your brain is capable of learning to multitask without your realizing it, according to a new study.

Why it matters

It has long been thought that using your brain to work simultaneously on multiple things was impossible.

Common ground

That’s because problem-solving, logical planning and abstract thinking are all carried out by a key region of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex, which is notoriously inflexible.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/science-reveals-people…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 10 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 4
check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified By Reference 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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Claim 1: “after many weeks of sorting, it was revealed that they were using a different region, known as the temporal cortex — which is involved in encoding long-term memories — to carry out the task.”
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search results describe research (one mentioning Georgetown) where tasks shifted from the prefrontal cortex to the temporal cortex after practice, allowing for multitasking.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... ... task subconsciously, freeing up the prefrontal cortex to focus on something else. ... Over five to 10 weeks, they repeated the sorting more ...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/science-reveals-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 8, 2026 ... ... tasks from the decision-making prefrontal cortex to the more automatic temporal cortex. ... on the temporal cortex, a region involved in ...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZVHpCCjWDu/
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web search NEUTRAL — In addition, functional brain imaging studies show rapid and widespread activation across frontal and non-frontal brain regions during WCST performance. These ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02782…
info
Claim 2: “research published Thursday in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience”
SINGLE SOURCE
While Wikipedia confirms the existence of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, there is no evidence in the provided search results confirming a specific study on brain multitasking published on a 'Thursday' in that journal. The other results are generic educational sites.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neuroscience
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering cognitive neuroscience. It aims for a cross-discipline approach, covering research in neuroscience, neuropsyc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Cognitive_Neuroscie…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Journal of Neuroscience is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). It covers empirical research on all aspects of neuroscience. Its editor-in-chi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Neuroscience
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 3: “Maximilian Riesenhuber, a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University School of Medicine”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The only Wikipedia result provided is for 'Kurt Biedenkopf', which is a different person. No evidence was found to confirm Maximilian Riesenhuber's position.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (German pronunciation: [kʊʁt ˈbiːdn̩ˌkɔp͡f] ; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) party.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Biedenkopf
verified
Claim 4: “Michael Schoenberg, a licensed psychologist and professor in the neurosurgery and brain repair department at the University of South Florida”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The Wikipedia results provided are for 'Arnold Schoenberg' (a composer) and unrelated topics. There is no evidence provided for a psychologist named Michael Schoenberg at the University of South Florida.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Palisades Fire was a highly destructive wildfire that began in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County on January 7, 2025, and grew to destroy large areas of Pacific Palisades, Topanga, a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Fire
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian and American modernist composer, music theorist, and teacher associated with developing variation, the emancipation of…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Degenerate music (German: Entartete Musik, German pronunciation: [ɛntˈaʁtɛtə muˈziːk]) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_music
help
Claim 5: “Dr. David T. Jones, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for Dr. David T. Jones at the Mayo Clinic.
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Claim 6: “Over five to 10 weeks, they repeated the sorting more than 30,000 times.”
CORROBORATED
One web search result explicitly mentions 'Over five to 10 weeks, they repeated the sorting more...' in the context of a study on multitasking, which aligns with the claim.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Case Study House No. 10 is a modernist house in Pasadena, California constructed in 1947. The house was designed by architect Kemper Nomland and his son Kemper Nomland Jr. Although not originally part…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Study_House_No._10
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets (overlay networks) that use the Internet, but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_web
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (informally referred to as the Tuskegee Experiment or Tuskegee Syphilis Study) was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United Stat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “problem-solving, logical planning and abstract thinking are all carried out by a key region of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that the prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functions, including planning, decision-making, problem-solving, and abstract thinking.
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web search NEUTRAL — Aug 12, 2014 ... Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) is thought to play an important role in supporting the integration of abstract, often self-generated, thoughts.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6987955/
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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 25, 2026 ... It is involved in a wide range of cognitive functions, including: Executive functions: 1️⃣ .Planning, decision-making, problem-solving, impulse ...
https://www.facebook.com/thedoctorasky/posts/the-prefrontal-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Dec 27, 2021 ... In theorizing about the functions of the PFC as premotoric, our view is anticipated by Fuster ([14,49,50]; figure 1). Fuster viewed the PFC as ...
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article/377/1844/202…
info
Claim 8: “Eleven men and women ages 18 to 29 spent several hours sifting through computer-generated images of cars as part of an app-based game and learned to sort them into one of two categories based on similarities and differences in shape.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of generic Wikipedia entries for numbers and unrelated search results about voter ID and technology diffusion. No source corroborates the specific study details (11 participants, car-sorting game).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and grapheme. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Eleven or 11 may refer to: 11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In numerology, 11:11 is considered to be a significant moment in time for an event to occur. It is seen as an example of synchronicity, as well as a favorable sign or a suggestion towards the presence…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11:11_(numerology)
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 9: “the temporal cortex — which is involved in encoding long-term memories”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of unrelated Reddit threads about Amazon. However, the claim is mentioned as part of the research findings in the web search results for claim 5. Since no authoritative reference (like Wikipedia) was provided for this specific function of the temporal cortex in the evidence list, it remains single-source/contextual.
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web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to /r/Amazon Please try to focus on community-oriented content, such as news and discussions, instead of individual-oriented content. If you have questions or need help, please use the stickie…
https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/about/
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web search NEUTRAL — Dec 23, 2023 · A couple days later I got the $200 promo credit, again when I add in a say a $500 item (Sold by Amazon seller) the checkout page shows $200 courtesy credit being applied towards the ord…
https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonprime/comments/18p76pa/how_to…
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web search NEUTRAL — Amazon has like 83,423 products with many of them having used versions for sale. Aunt Tilly's experience with her used television is 100% not going to help you with your experience with your used Gard…
https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/comments/192rd4f/anyon…
info
Claim 10: “imaging tools that allowed the researchers to monitor which parts of the brain were being activated showed that the prefrontal cortex was carrying out the work [at the beginning of the experiment]”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists only of dictionary definitions for the word 'initial'. No scientific evidence was provided to confirm the brain imaging results mentioned in the claim.
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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · The meaning of INITIAL is of or relating to the beginning : incipient. How to use initial in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/initial
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web search NEUTRAL — INITIAL definition: 1. of or at the beginning: 2. the first letter of a name, especially when used to represent the…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/initial
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web search NEUTRAL — In a written or published work, an initial[a] is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is derived from Latin: initiālis, whi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.