Proof that women are better at multi-tasking

IT is suggested that the praise for women as better multi-taskers than men was simply an excuse used by some males to avoid work.

Now scientists have found strong proof that men are inferior at juggling two activities – at least compared to women under 60.

When men were asked to carry out a mental task while walking, the demands on their brain appeared to impair their physical performance. But women under 60 – described as ‘pre-menopausal’ – were ‘surprisingly’ not affected.

A team led by Tim Kileen at the Spinal Cord Injury Centre in Zurich carried out an experiment on 83 healthy subjects aged 18 to 80.

They were asked to carry out a task called a ‘Stroop test’ while walking on a treadmill. The test involves naming different colours flashed on a screen but is complicated by the name for the colour being printed in a colour not denoted by the name. So, for example, the word ‘red’ might be written in blue.

The test is known to make greater demands on the left side of the brain. As this side of the brain controls the right side of the body, the researchers were interested to see what effect it would have on the swinging of arms while walking. Men were found to stop swinging their right arm during the task, while both the women’s arms swung freely as before. The authors, writing in the Royal Society journal, suggest that sex hormones that are higher in women than men ‘might underlie this female ability to multi-task’. They say that the effect of oestrogen on the brain enhances cognitive control and ‘inhibits inappropriate responses’.

Some theorists claim women’s multi-tasking skills emerged during our hunter-gath- erer phase, when men developed more focused, hunting-related skills, while women, gathering food and looking after children, were under pressure to juggle tasks.

The phenomenon where the right arm is still while the left arm swings has been observed in Russian politicians and had previously been linked to KGB weapons training – and the importance of keeping the right arm ready to draw a pistol.

A lighthearted article in the British Medical Journal in its Christmas 2015 issue dubbed this the ‘gunslinger’s gait’.

But Dr Killeen’s team noted this is widespread among male politicians of all backgrounds – not just those trained to fire a gun. For example, footage shows Ronald Reagan with his right arm still as he walks, while both of Margaret Thatcher’s arms swing.

It led them to suggest the still right arm could be dubbed ‘the orator’s gait’.