The neural networks that process written and oral language are deeply intertwined and largely overlap when reading print books or listening to audiobooks. There isn't much of a difference between the brain network for reading and the brain network for language comprehension. The brain area we call the 'letter box,' which processes print, is not as engaged when you listen, but it has been shown that when some people listen to words, they visualize them, so the letter box gets activated as well.
Your brain accounts for roughly 2% of your body weight but consumes about 20% of your daily energy. That consumption isn't evenly distributed across all mental activities. Focused, voluntary attention (the kind you use when navigating a rocky trail or solving a puzzle you care about) draws on neural circuits that are remarkably efficient when properly engaged.
Attention is the brain's filtering mechanism; what passes through that filter is what gets encoded. What gets encoded becomes memory. And memory is the raw material of identity. So in the architecture of your identity, attention is the doorway.
Multitasking is the biggest con the modern world has ever sold us, right up there with fad diets that promise you can eat nothing but cheddar cheese and still lose ten pounds. Dr. Steve Robbins, the 2024 keynote speaker at the American Marketing Association Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, reminded us that people are not wired to process multiple high-level tasks simultaneously.