Multi taskers have fluctuating brains

​New York: Do you know why some people are better at performing complex duties and multi-tasking? Because their brains are not static and the level of coordination between different parts of their brains seems to ebb and flow.

After analysing the brains of people at rest or carrying out complex tasks, researchers at Stanford University have learnt that the integration between those brain regions also fluctuates.

When the brain is more integrated, people do better on complex tasks. "The brain is stunning in its complexity and I feel like, in a way, we've been able to describe some of its beauty in this story," said study lead author Mac Shine, post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Russell Poldrack, Professor of psychology.

"We've been able to say, 'Here's this underlying structure that you would never have guessed was there, that might help us explain the mystery of why the brain is organized in the way that it is,"" Shine added.

For the past 100 years, scientists have understood that different areas of the brain serve unique purposes. Only recently have they realised that the organisation isn't static.

In a three-part project, the researchers used open source data from the Human Connectome Project to examine how separate areas of the brain coordinate their activity over time - both while people are at rest and while they are attempting a challenging mental task.

They then tested a potential neurobiological mechanism to explain these findings.