New research shows that neither men nor women are good at multi-tasking Humans can do two things at once if they are routine and well-practiced When something non-routine is introduced, multi-tasking is difficult Men may be notoriously poor at multi-tasking, but the good news for bungling chaps is that women are just as bad. New research out today reveals that neither sex are very good at doing more than one thing at once. Professor Nick Chater, of Warwick Business School, said that when doing something routine and well-practiced, humans can do two things at once, like driving and talking. When doing something routine and well-practiced humans can do two things at once, like driving and listening to the radio However, when anything non-routine is introduced then multi-tasking is just not possible for the human mind. Professor Chater said: "Most of the things that we find reasonably challenging we can only do one at a time. We think we are multi-tasking but in fact we are jumping from one task to the next quite rapidly, something we don't have to do if we practice. If we practice, we get very fluent at something and it requires almost no mental effort, like driving while listening to the radio. The professor said that when something difficult is added then any hope of doing two things at once is ended. Professor Chater, an expert in behavioural science, conducted a series of experiments to reach his conclusion, including asking people questions while they were doing something else, such as walking. He said: "When you are trying to strain your memory, or when you have to do something remotely difficult, you have to stop doing something else. People can do two things at once - like walking and talking - if they are well-practiced Mental and physical energy is more connected than you imagine. We can't keep mental processes entirely separate from each other. If we are doing routine things that is fine, but if we do something non-routine suddenly other parts of the brain start to engage and interfere with routine things like walking. Professor Chater reveals how this link between mental and physical energy has real implications - he described how a study of a parole board in Israel showed that their decisions were affected by having some food while working. The findings were revealed by Professor Chater in the first of a weekly six-part series called The Human Zoo on BBC Radio 4.