system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can human brains actually "multi-task" or is our brain just capable of swapping back and forth between tasks quickly?

When I'm brushing my teeth and doing something else at the same time with my other hand, like folding a pair of pants, I find myself involuntarily stopping brushing my teeth and only focus on the folding. I don't even realize I stopped brushing my teeth. What's the science behind this?
gpt
The brain has a multitude of interconnected systems and modules specialized for different tasks, and these operate in parallel at all times - so yes, to some degree, multitasking is possible.  If you think about it, one part of your brain is processing visual information, another processing audio information, another keeping you breathing, etc etc etc, nonstop - so your brain is always doing many, many tasks at once.

Where this breaks down is if you want to do two tasks that use the *same parts* of the brain at once - this is something we can't really do.  For instance, we can't typically split our conscious attention - we can switch it back and forth fairly quickly, and we can automate tasks through extended practice so they don't take much conscious attention (like driving) - but generally you won't be able to use those parts of your brain to do two things simultaneously, because in order for the brain to accomplish a given task, it has to inhibit any activity associated with other tasks to avoid crossed wires and failures.