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What happens to your brain when you 'supertask'?

If you can carry out lots of mental tasks simultaneously and perform them all equally well, then you may be what psychologists have dubbed 'supertaskers'. Just 2.5% of the population have been identified by Jason Watson, a cognitive neuroscientist, at the University of Colorado as true supertaskers. Along with colleagues at the University of Utah, Watson got people to drive in a simulator whilst talking on the phone, solving maths problems AND learning lists of words. He told Claudia Hammond how the supertaskers then had a brain scan to reveal how they managed all of those tasks together.

Image: Woman being presented with array of devices and demands on her time. Credit: Thinkstock

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2 minutes