COGNITIVE SKILLS
FlexibilityTask Switching & Your Brain
The hidden cost of changing gears
Every time you change tasks, your brain pays a switch cost, a delay while it lets go of the old task and loads up the new one. It's not just annoying. It's a measurable tax on your attention, and it adds up fast.
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You're deep in an email when a colleague interrupts with a question. You answer, turn back to the screen, and the sentence you were building is gone. That gap is the switch cost in action. The more complex the original task, the longer it takes your brain to fully re-engage. Every interruption has a real mental price tag.
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Task Switching