미디어 멀티태스킹과 정보 습득: 과업 간의 관련성을 중심으로

Abstract

This study examined the role of task relevance in multitasking effects. Based on the capacity model of attention (Kahneman, 1973) and the cognitive dimensional framework of media multitasking (Wang, Irwin, Cooper, & Srivastava., 2015), we predicted that relevant multitasking (i.e., a multitasking combination composed of two relevant tasks) would result in greater information gain compared to irrelevant multitasking (i.e., a multitasking combination composed of two irrelevant tasks). Study 1 compared three conditions: non-multitasking (video newscast only), irrelevant multitasking (video newscast and unrelated text news), and relevant multitasking (video newscast and related text news). The results showed that the relevant multitasking did not reduce information gain (compared to the non-multitasking condition), whereas irrelevant multitasking did. Study 2 compared two conditions: irrelevant multitasking (video newscast and text news in a different order) and relevant multitasking (video newscast and text news in the same order). Study 2 also found that relevant multitasking resulted in greater information gain than irrelevant multitasking. The results of two studies suggest the beneficial effect of relevant multitasking.