EigoPro 1級読解 — The Tyranny of Divided Attention

The contemporary cult of multitasking rests upon a flattering fiction: that the mind, like a well-provisioned processor, can attend to several demanding tasks at once. Cognitive science has steadily and persuasively demolished this conceit. What we glibly call multitasking is, in truth, rapid task-switching—the brain wrenching its strictly limited executive resources from one focus to another in swift succession, never genuinely parallel. Each pivot incurs a so-called switch cost: a measurable lag as attentional networks disengage, reconfigure, and reorient toward the new demand. These costs are individually negligible yet cumulatively ruinous, eroding accuracy and bloating completion times even as the multitasker basks in a heady, self-congratulatory sense of accomplishment. The arithmetic is brutally simple: a dozen tiny delays, repeated across a working day, conspire to devour hours that no one ever consciously notices losing. Herein lies the insidious paradox that sustains the habit. The very oscillation that quietly degrades performance feels exhilaratingly productive, for novelty stimulates dopamine and each completed micro-task delivers a small, seductive reward. The subjective impression of efficiency thus diverges sharply from the objective record, which dispassionately documents fragmented memory, shallower comprehension, and a creeping erosion of the capacity for sustained, deliberative thought. Heavy media multitaskers, an unsettling body of studies suggests, paradoxically fare worse at filtering out irrelevance—the very skill that multitasking ostensibly cultivates and that its champions reflexively invoke in its defence. The toll, moreover, is not merely transactional but architectural. Habitual switching may gradually recalibrate our baseline tolerance for boredom, rendering protracted concentration faintly aversive and reflexive distraction the path of least resistance. Over years, accumulating imperceptibly, the mind quietly forgets how to dwell, how to follow a single thread of thought to its patient conclusion. To champion focus, then, is not a quaint nostalgia for slower, simpler times but a robust defence of cognition itself. The pressing question is not whether we can juggle competing claims upon our attention, but what is silently forfeited, day after unremarkable day, each time we presume to do so.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

Which statement best captures the central argument of the passage?

Multitasking is a valuable skill that, with sufficient practice, enables the brain to process several tasks in genuine parallel.
The dopamine released during task-switching is the primary cause of modern addiction to digital devices.
Apparent multitasking is actually sequential task-switching that imposes hidden cognitive costs while feeling deceptively productive.
Cognitive scientists remain deeply divided over whether the human mind can attend to more than one task at a time.

Phrase

rapid task-switching

1級読解主旨把握論旨

⚡ひとことで

マルチタスクの正体は逐次的な切り替えであり、生産的に感じられても隠れた認知的代償を伴う、というのが主旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Apparent multitasking is actually sequential task-switching that imposes hidden cognitive costs while feeling deceptively productive.」

正解

本文は冒頭で「What we glibly call multitasking is, in truth, rapid task-switching」と述べ、並行処理ではなく逐次的な切り替えだと主張する。さらに「feels exhilaratingly productive」だが客観的には性能を損なう「switch cost」が生じると論じる。よってこの選択肢が全体の論旨を最も正確に要約している。

「Multitasking is a valuable skill that, with sufficient practice, enables the brain to process several tasks in genuine parallel.」
= 練習すれば脳が真に並行処理できるという主張 ━ 本文は cognitive science がこの conceit を「demolished」したと明言しており、並行処理の可能性を否定している。
「The dopamine released during task-switching is the primary cause of modern addiction to digital devices.」
= 切替時のドーパミンが端末依存の主因という主張 ━ ドーパミンは生産的に「感じる」理由として触れられるに過ぎず、依存症が主題ではない。
「Cognitive scientists remain deeply divided over whether the human mind can attend to more than one task at a time.」
= 脳が同時処理できるか学者間で意見が割れているとの主張 ━ 本文は科学が「steadily demolished this conceit」と一致して否定したとし、対立は描かれていない。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
rest upon a fiction	虚構の上に成り立つ	Their optimism rests upon a fiction of endless growth.
incur a cost	代償を被る	Every interruption incurs a cost in concentration.
demolish a conceit	思い込みを打ち砕く	New data demolished the conceit of objectivity.
diverge from the record	記録と食い違う	His memory diverged sharply from the record.
the path of least resistance	最も抵抗の少ない道	Avoiding conflict became the path of least resistance.

❝例文

Genuine multitasking is a myth the brain cannot sustain.
真のマルチタスクは脳が維持できない幻想だ。
The switch cost accumulates until productivity quietly collapses.
切替コストは蓄積し、やがて生産性が静かに崩壊する。
She felt busy, yet the objective record told another story.
彼女は忙しく感じたが、客観的記録は別の事実を語った。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

GIST 問題では、本文全体を貫く対比 (感覚的生産性 vs 客観的損失) を1文に収める選択肢を選ぶ。極端な肯定 (multitasking is valuable) や枝葉 (dopamine) は主旨ではない。

問 2

According to the passage, what is a 'switch cost'?

The reward delivered by dopamine each time a small micro-task is successfully completed.
The permanent loss of neurons that results from chronic exposure to digital stimulation.
A measurable lag occurring as attentional networks disengage, reconfigure, and reorient between tasks.
The financial expense incurred when workers are required to operate several devices simultaneously.

Phrase

disengage, reconfigure, and reorient

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

switch cost とは、注意ネットワークが解除・再構成・再方向づけする際に生じる測定可能な遅延。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「A measurable lag occurring as attentional networks disengage, reconfigure, and reorient between tasks.」

正解

本文は switch cost を「a measurable lag as attentional networks disengage, reconfigure, and reorient」と定義している。これは課題間を移る際の脳内処理の遅れを指す。よって測定可能な遅延とするこの選択肢が正しい。

「The financial expense incurred when workers are required to operate several devices simultaneously.」
= 複数端末操作にかかる費用という解釈 ━ cost は認知的な遅延を指す比喩であり、金銭的支出ではない。
「The permanent loss of neurons that results from chronic exposure to digital stimulation.」
= デジタル刺激でニューロンが失われるとの解釈 ━ 本文に神経細胞の永久的喪失への言及はなく、誤った拡大解釈である。
「The reward delivered by dopamine each time a small micro-task is successfully completed.」
= micro-task 完了時の報酬を switch cost とする解釈 ━ 報酬は別箇所の話であり、switch cost は性能を損なう遅延として定義されている。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
a measurable lag	測定可能な遅れ	There is a measurable lag before the system responds.
disengage from a task	課題から離れる	It is hard to disengage from an unfinished task.
reconfigure resources	資源を再構成する	The brain must reconfigure resources after each switch.
reorient attention	注意を向け直す	Drivers must constantly reorient attention on busy roads.
incur a switch cost	切替コストを被る	Frequent emails make us incur a switch cost all day.

❝例文

Each pivot between tasks imposes a tiny but real delay.
課題間の各転換は小さいが実在する遅れを課す。
Disengaging from one focus is never instantaneous.
ひとつの焦点から離れるのは決して瞬時ではない。
Reorienting the mind takes precious seconds.
心を向け直すには貴重な数秒を要する。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

DETAIL 問題は本文の定義文を狙う。switch cost は「lag (遅延)」であって金銭でも神経損傷でもない、という語の比喩的用法を取り違えないこと。

問 3

What paradoxical finding about heavy media multitaskers does the passage report?

They eventually train their brains to process two demanding tasks in true parallel.
They complete micro-tasks faster but retain the information far more durably afterwards.
They are worse at filtering out irrelevance, the very skill multitasking supposedly develops.
They release significantly less dopamine than people who concentrate on a single task.

Phrase

filtering out irrelevance

1級読解詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

重度のメディア・マルチタスカーは、本来鍛えられるはずの無関係情報の選別がかえって苦手という逆説。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「They are worse at filtering out irrelevance, the very skill multitasking supposedly develops.」

正解

本文は「Heavy media multitaskers, studies suggest, paradoxically fare worse at filtering irrelevance—the very skill multitasking ostensibly cultivates」と述べる。鍛えられるはずの能力が逆に低下する点が逆説である。よってこの選択肢が正しい。

「They release significantly less dopamine than people who concentrate on a single task.」
= 単一集中者よりドーパミン放出が少ないとの主張 ━ 本文はドーパミンの量を multitasker 間で比較しておらず根拠がない。
「They complete micro-tasks faster but retain the information far more durably afterwards.」
= 速く完了し情報も長く保持するとの主張 ━ 本文は逆に「fragmented memory」「shallower comprehension」と記憶低下を述べている。
「They eventually train their brains to process two demanding tasks in true parallel.」
= 脳を訓練し2課題を真に並行処理するとの主張 ━ 本文全体が真の並行処理を否定しており矛盾する。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
fare worse at	〜が下手である	Tired students fare worse at complex problems.
filter irrelevance	無関係を選別する	Good focus lets us filter irrelevance instinctively.
ostensibly cultivate	表向きは育成する	The course ostensibly cultivates critical thinking.
a paradoxical finding	逆説的な発見	The study yielded a paradoxical finding about rest.
studies suggest	研究が示唆する	Studies suggest that breaks restore attention.

❝例文

The skill they prize most is the one they erode.
彼らが最も重んじる能力こそが損なわれている。
Constant switching dulls the filter for distraction.
絶え間ない切替は注意の選別力を鈍らせる。
Irrelevant stimuli intrude more easily on their focus.
無関係な刺激が彼らの集中により容易に侵入する。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

逆説 (paradoxically) を含む文は出題されやすい。「鍛えるはずの力が逆に衰える」という反転の構造を見抜き、向上系の選択肢を排除する。

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EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Tyranny of Divided Attention

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

rapid task-switching

disengage, reconfigure, and reorient

filtering out irrelevance

EigoPro 1級読解 — The Tyranny of Divided Attention