Driven to distraction: dual-Task studies of simulated driving and conversing on a cellular telephone.
Dual-task studies assessed the effects of cellular-phone conversations on performance of a simulated driving task. Performance was not disrupted by listening to radio broadcasts or listening to a book on tape. Nor was it disrupted by a continuous shadowing task using a handheld phone, ruling out, in this case, dual-task interpretations associated with holding the phone, listening, or speaking, However significant interference was observed in a word-generation variant of the shadowing task, and this deficit increased with the difficulty of driving. Moreover unconstrained conversations using either a handheld or a hands-free cell phone resulted in a twofold increase in the failure to detect simulated traffic signals and slower reactions to those signals that were detected. We suggest that cellular-phone use disrupts performance by diverting attention to an engaging cognitive context other than the one immediately associated with driving.
Strayer
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Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112-0251, USA. strayer@psych.utah.edu
Johnston
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011845:Radio; D013067:Speech Perception; D013689:Telephone; D014705:Verbal Behavior