The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 18 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Media multitasking and memory: Differences in working memory and long-term memory
Open accessAbstract
Increasing access to media in the 21st century has led to a rapid rise in the prevalence of media multitasking (simultaneous use of multiple media streams). Such behavior is associated with various cognitive differences, such as difficulty filtering distracting information and increased trait impulsivity. Given the rise in media multitasking by children, adolescents, and adults, a full understanding of the cognitive profile of media multitaskers is imperative. Here we investigated the relationship between chronic media multitasking and working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM) performance. Four key findings are reported (1) heavy media multitaskers (HMMs) exhibited lower WM performance, regardless of whether external distraction was present or absent; (2) lower performance on multiple WM tasks predicted lower LTM performance; (3) media multitasking-related differences in memory reflected differences in discriminability rather than decision bias; and (4) attentional impulsivity correlated with media multitasking behavior and reduced WM performance. These findings suggest that chronic media multitasking is associated with a wider attentional scope/higher attentional impulsivity, which may allow goal-irrelevant information to compete with goal-relevant information. As a consequence, heavy media multitaskers are able to hold fewer or less precise goal-relevant representations in WM. HMMs' wider attentional scope, combined with their diminished WM performance, propagates forward to yield lower LTM performance. As such, chronic media multitasking is associated with a reduced ability to draw on the past--be it very recent or more remote--to inform present behavior.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“the negative effect of frequent media multitasking on attention focusing was confirmed by multiple studies, whereas the results about attention shifting were inconsistent.”
From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“A more consistent finding from previous studies revealed that media multitasking harmed attention focusing.”
From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“For example, heavy media multitaskers tend to use breadth-biased attention allocation, are more likely to be inattentive, and get distracted by internal or external irrelevant stimuli (39).”
From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
(1966) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 10,293
Signal detection theory and psychophysics
Ingleby, D. (1967) · Journal of Sound and Vibration · doi:10.1016/0022-460x(67)90197-6 · Cited by 8,616
Journal of experimental psychology: Human Perception and performance
Jong, R. D., Coles, M. G. H., Logan, G. D., & Gratton, G. (1987) · Journal of Sound and Vibration · doi:10.1016/0022-460x(87)90423-8 · Cited by 5,411
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds
Foehr, U. G., Rideout, V. J., & Roberts, D. F. (2010) · Cited by 2,197
Generation M2 : Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-year-olds
Rideout, V. (2010) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 2,016
Cognitive control in media multitaskers
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A. D. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0903620106 · Cited by 1,810
Self-citationNeural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory
Vogel, E. K., McCollough, A. W., & Machizawa, M. G. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04171 · Cited by 1,367
Integrating Memories in the Human Brain: Hippocampal-Midbrain Encoding of Overlapping Events
Shohamy, D., & Wagner, A. D. (2008) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2008.09.023 · Cited by 553
Self-citationSanbonmatsu, D. M., Strayer, D. L., Medeiros-Ward, N., & Watson, J. M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054402 · Cited by 440
Working memory, fluid intelligence, and impulsiveness in heavy media multitaskers
Minear, M., Brasher, F., McCurdy, M., Lewis, J., & Younggren, A. (2013) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0456-6 · Cited by 231
Fidelity of neural reactivation reveals competition between memories
Kuhl, B. A., Rissman, J., Chun, M. M., & Wagner, A. D. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1016939108 · Cited by 217
Self-citationThe association between media multitasking, task-switching, and dual-task performance.
Alzahabi, R., & Becker, M. W. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/a0031208 · Cited by 206
Lui, K. F. H., & Wong, A. C.-N. (2012) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0245-7 · Cited by 179
Distractor Filtering in Media Multitaskers
Cain, M. S., & Mitroff, S. R. (2011) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p7017 · Cited by 160
Media multitasking predicts unitary versus splitting visual focal attention
Yap, J. Y., & Lim, S. W. H. (2013) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2013.835315 · Cited by 59
A null relationship between media multitasking and well-being
Shih, S.-I. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064508 · Cited by 53
Factor structure of the Barratt impulsiveness scale
Patton, J. H., Stanford, M. S., & Barratt, E. S. (1995) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/1097-4679(199511)51:6
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Wilmer, H. H., Sherman, L. E., & Chein, J. M. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00605 · Cited by 736
May, K. E., & Elder, A. D. (2018) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z · Cited by 287
Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions
Uncapher, M. R., & Wagner, A. D. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1611612115 · Cited by 217
Self-citationMoisala, M., Salmela, V., Hietajärvi, L., Salo, E., Carlson, S., Salonen, O., Lonka, K., Hakkarainen, K., Salmela-Aro, K., & Alho, K. (2016) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.011 · Cited by 200
Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking
Madore, K. P., Khazenzon, A. M., Backes, C. W., Jiang, J., Uncapher, M. R., Norcia, A. M., & Wagner, A. D. (2020) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z · Cited by 184
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Uncapher, M. R., K. Thieu, M., & Wagner, A. D.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Uncapher, Melina R.
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2015-07-30
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 483-490
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- PMC
- PMC4733435
- OpenAlex
- W965151129
- Cited by
- 232
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 17.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH099812)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- media multitasking, working memory, long-term memory, attentional impulsivity, attentional scope, external distraction, discriminability, decision bias
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Child, Female, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Male, Mass Media, Memory, Short-Term, Young Adult, Executive Function, Memory, Long-Term, Social Media
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
