Multitasking: You Can't Pay Full Attention to Sights, Sounds (Cell Phones)

[HuckleB]

Multitasking: You Can't Pay Full Attention to Sights, Sounds; Lab Findings Suggest Reason Cell Phones, Driving Don't Mix

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20050621.083234&time=09%2007%20PDT&year=2005&public=1

"The reason talking on a cell phone makes drivers less safe may be that the brain can't simultaneously give full attention to both the visual task of driving and the auditory task of listening, a study by a Johns Hopkins University psychologist suggests.

       The study, published in a recent issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, reinforces earlier behavioral research on the danger of mixing mobile phones and motoring.

       "Our research helps explain why talking on a cell phone can impair driving performance, even when the driver is using a hands-free device," said Steven Yantis, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the university's Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

       "The reason?" he said. "Directing attention to listening effectively 'turns down the volume' on input to the visual parts of the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is strictly limited -- a zero-sum game. When attention is deployed to one modality -- say, in this case, talking on a cell phone -- it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality -- in this case, the visual task of driving."


..."


I'm shocked!

[Radio_Lady]

1. We need national laws against using cellphones while driving --

Unfortunately, the cellphone industry has lobbyists who will see that any legislation of this sort is killed completely -- because of their bias against these findings -- and what it will do to their income. Simple, isn't it?

[HuckleB]

Si! Oui! Yes!

There is no logical reason to continue to allow cell phone use in automobiles. Ah, but logic doesn't mean much when it comes to legislation, national, state or local, does it?

Salud.

[Mythsaje]

2. Anybody see the inconsistency here?

By this reasoning, so would having a conversation with a passenger, listening to the radio, talking or listening on a CB or Police Band radio/scanner.

What makes a conversation via cellphone so different?

[HuckleB]

3. Maybe. Maybe not.

There is a big difference in what the brain does in regard to a phone conversation and a conversation in person, and there may be, thus, be a difference in how the two types of conversation effect driving ability.

[Mythsaje]

5. Yeah

one requires (at least for some people) that they actually LOOK at the person they're talking to.

[HuckleB]

15. And your point?

Until you've studied the matter, with a true understanding of communication, how the brain works in its various modes, etc... it's wise not to make a judgment, especially since other studies have shown cell phone use while driver leaves the driver's capabilities the same as an inebriated driver. Are there studies showing that talking to passengers leads to the same end?

[Amelie]

21. Many, many moons ago

When cell phones were still being carried around in briefcases and "portable" computers weighed 50 pounds, I saw a documentary about human communication. There is apparently some sort of primitive need for humans to make eye contact with each other while engaged in conversation. They showed a clip of a woman talking on the phone (complete with rotary dial and curly cord), and noted that while she talked, she did not appear to focus on anything in particular, perhaps imagining the face of the person she was talking to. It was really interesting, and I've been reminded of that show dozens of times since all the hoopla started over cell phones.

Anyway, based on that show, it seems that anytime there is a conversation, regardless of whether the communicants are in the same room, humans would glaze over during conversation if they can't make direct eye contact with each other.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. To a degree those other things are distracting.

Why else do people turn down their radios when they're looking for a particular street or house number?

[gaia_gardener]

8. I've always wondered that

Not to mention that the people I see conversing with passengers actually turn to look at that passenger a lot. They spend a large amount of time relying on peripheral vision to see where they are going (I've actually refused to ride with people who drive that way).

[shanti]

10. that drives me NUTS when people do that

i rarely look at the other person in my car when i'm driving and talking to them simultaneously.

just drive the damn car!

[gaia_gardener]

11. It's true, but I still look occasionally

we're conditioned to look for the non-verbal conversational cues. If our passenger is being quiet, we look to see if they're angry, bored or just formulating a response.

Because I can't stand that side of myself, I rarely volunteer to drive.

[shanti]

12. lucky you

i'm a single mom, so guess what? i end up being the driver and never the drivee. perhaps that explains it....:)

[Karenina]

14. A person in the passenger seat?

Another set of eyes and ears.

[Logansquare]

16. From my own experience, passengers act as "backseat drivers"

I recently had a scary near-miss when I blew through a stop sign while telling an animated story to my friend sitting in the front passenger seat. It was her screaming "Watch out!!" that prevented me from t-boning another vehicle. If I had been talking to her on a cell phone, she wouldn't have been able to assist me.

[wallwriter]

19. I don't know about you,

but when I am driving with a passenger, sometimes I say to them, "I need to be quiet and focus on driving for a moment..."

[satya]

4. Wonder if the same thing happens when I listen to AAR in my car? n/t

[Mythsaje]

6. That occured to me too n/t

[gaia_gardener]

9. Oh wait, now I get it

those idiots weaving in front of me are listing to limbaugh and the like! That makes a lot of sense. Of course, it could also be that they're trying to eat a big mac and fries and handle a giant soda.

[burrowowl]

13. Not really

like talking to someone in the car, if things get rough, I tune them out. It seems that it is harder to tune out cellphone, even with hands-off.
I've listened to the radio and when traffic requires concentration, I realized I've missed a whole section of the chat and am at a damn ad, which seem to last forever and when traffic is nowhere to be seen or heard. I rely in both vision and hearing while driving: sounds of my car of other cars and surroundings (jeez how many have their belts at wrong tensioning, sound changes at interference areas, etc.). When a teenager with a GrandAm killed my truck (thank god I had just delivered 800 lbs of tiles before it happened) I saw his wheels and I guess his was talking to his companion (who left the scene) and started braking like mad (both legs were sore for a week couldn't turn away or would have bashed another car just behind me), I thought oh my God He is not going to continue turning against the Green, his testosterone and GrandAm unfortunately didn't overcome the laws of physics.
The only thing I've noticed about cellphone talkers while driving is that they seem to drive a tad slower.

[Logansquare]

17. I think it's talking that is really the culprit.

Listening can be done in an inattentive manner, especially when what you're listening too doesn't expect you to interact with it.

[Scout1071]

18. I can do both. Having said that, I agree that most arseholes out

there should stick to either one or the other.

On a side note....if you are on a cell phone, driving 20 miles under the average speed, stay the feck out of the left lane.

[HuckleB]

20. LOL!

How did you gain immunity?

:)

[ReadTomPaine]

22. If a minor distraction turns you from a safe driver into a deadly threat..

Then take a pair of scissor to that license, clip it in two and stay on the bus.

I've driven over 35,000 miles a year for decades, I regularly speed over 100 mph and I often talk on my cellphone while I drive via my headset. I've never been in an accident & never caused one and that includes dozens of autocross events and street races. Not a chip of paint or single wrinkle on any car I've ever owned or raced.

The bitter truth is that driving is a SKILL. Some are gifted, most aren't. If you aren't, then know your limitations and stay out of the way, off the phone or off the road.

If someone is swerving or otherwise unable to drive and speak simultaneously, there are plenty of existing laws on the books that will handle the situation nicely. I think this is just an outgrowth of the anti-cellphone fundamentalist faction.

Flame away.