Wednesday, October 10, 2012

COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF CELL PHONE USE & CONVERSATIONS WHILE DRIVING


Over the last several years, there are many people who have started using cell phones as their main form of telephone communication with others. Unfortunately, this has also caused an increase in people who choose to use these devices while driving and/or operating a vehicle. Since, this rise in mobile use has occurred there has also been an increase in traffic fatalities, property damage, and injuries due to this new growing distraction.
With this new growing trend, researchers have decided to study or identify how lack of proper cognitive ability may cause safety issues when trying to simultaneously perform both driving tasks and talking on the phone. The results of some studies do indicate that cognitive ability is negatively affected in several ways and this is why so many people may be experiencing traffic accidents while performing these tasks at the same time. This is because when an individual is driving, they may not be able to mentally carry out multiple tasks that involve talking or texting on a phone at the same time. This is due to a divide in attention which can then cause a delayed reaction when attempting to complete certain driving tasks. One other issue that may affect cognitive ability or focus while driving is when talking to a person that is riding in the car. This is because there may be a certain level of distraction involved during the overall conversation. Since, these issues and/or concerns may exist within our present society this paper will further address how divided attention may affect cognitive ability while driving, possible differences in cognitive ability when using a hand held or hands free device, any possible differences in talking on a phone and talking to a passenger while driving, along with, what cognitive demands are also required when text-messaging while driving.
How does divided attention affect cognitive ability while driving?
According to (Anderson. 2010), a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimates that cell phone distraction results in 2,600 deaths, 330,000 injuries, and 1.5 million instances of property damage in the United States each year” (p.85). This is because individuals may experience divided attention in cognitive ability reaction time, when attempting to process and carry out multiple tasks while driving. The reason that this lack in cognitive ability occurs is due to a cognitive filtering process known as serial bottlenecks. This is the point when all incoming information may no longer be processed at the same time because it interferes with the procession of an individual stimuli and/or message. Therefore, when driving a person may need to carry out various tasks but will only be able to focus or filter attention on one particular task and/or stimuli at a time. This would also support Treisman’s Attenuation Theory which believes that individuals process multiple stimuli or messages while being filtered through the unattended channel based on word importance of the stimuli. This process is also known as the threshold effect. Stimuli with a low threshold are more likely to be filtered into one’s conscious awareness, while stimuli with a high threshold are more likely to get filtered out by one’s conscious awareness. Since, this is the case there may also be a decrease of focused attention on important stimuli and an increase in focused attention on stimuli that is more familiar or pleasant to the individual. Therefore, when this occurs, the individual may be more likely to miss or (filter out) certain environmental stimuli like traffic lights that have turned red or exits that are supposed to be taken. Since, this is the case, many accidents can occur simply because certain environmental stimuli has been filtered out versus being filtered in the way it should to accomplish safe driving. 
Are there differences in cognitive ability when using a hand held or hands free device?
Although, research has confirmed that serial bottlenecks affect one’s ability to successfully carry out the tasks of talking on a phone and driving, some people question if using a hands free phone device may be safer. This is because many assume that an individual may be able to focus better attention on all of the environmental stimuli that is required to drive safely, while talking to a hands free phone device that doesn’t require physical contact. Although, many believe this to be true, research has shown that there is no difference in the level of divided attention that occurs during this process. One particular study was conducted by the University of Utah which included an analysis of cell phone records that were acquired from 699 drivers who had been in car accidents. According to (Marinova. 2001), the results indicated that the risk of getting in to an accident when talking on a cell phone had increased by four times and that “a hands free cell phone did not seem to reduce the risk of an accident, compared to a hand held phone” (p.7). This is because the drivers where distracted due to certain stimuli and had filtered out the type that could have prevented an accident from occurring. Since, this is the case, many researchers believe that when talking on a hand held phone or a hand’s free phone, there will still be serial bottlenecks that occur and therefore, cognitive ability to complete these mental processes simultaneously have a greater chance of  being unsuccessfully completed.  
Is there a difference between talking on a phone and talking to a passenger while driving?
Although, there is a significant lack in cognitive ability when trying to focus attention on driving and talking on a cell phone, some may wonder if this improves when only talking to a passenger that is riding in the car. This is because many may believe that simply having a conversation with someone in the car is safer and less distracting then talking on a hand held or hands free phone device. However, research has indicated that there may be no difference when trying to accomplish this type of cognitive multi-tasking when driving. According to (Horrey & Wickens. 2004), a meta-analytical study was conducted to determine if lack of focus and performance may be different among hands on and hands free cell phone use and conversations that take place with a passenger in the car. This included sixteen studies and results were acquired after closer analysis of 37 total entries. These results indicated that overall “driving performance were roughly equivalent whether the conversation was with a passenger or whether over a cell phone” (p.1). This is because certain distractions were present in all of these situations. Therefore, the conclusion is that a lack of cognitive attention and focus can be affected no matter which of these tasks are being performed while driving.  
What additional task demands are required when text-messaging while driving?
After learning that communication via a hand held phone, hands free phone, and with passengers can cause issues with focused attention, one other aspect that must be considered is how texting may affect cognitive ability while driving. This is because performing the action of texting may also require other aspects of one’s focused attention or cognitive ability. One major thing that must be done is that the driver will need to physically type when carrying on a conversation with others. When the person chooses to complete this physical action, most of the time, he or she will need to look at the phone screen in order to properly type a message. While, a second major issue is that the driver will need to look at the phone screen to read any incoming messages in order to reply. Since, this is the case, the individuals attention will most likely be directed toward typing or reading versus environmental stimuli that is occurring outside of that action. This can also cause several accidents because important stimuli may be focused out during the minutes or seconds that it takes to focus on stimuli associated with texting or reading. Since this is the case, completing these additional demands in attention has quickly become another major cause of accidents and fatalities among drivers.
Summary
Over the last few years, a dramatic increase in cell phone use has occurred within our society. Unfortunately, this has also caused an increase in people who regularly use this device while driving. Since this is occurring, there has also been a dramatic increase in traffic fatalities and other injuries which are directly related to performing this action. In order to address this growing need, researchers have also been studying how lack of proper cognitive ability may cause safety issues when trying to simultaneously perform both driving tasks and talking on the phone. The results of these studies indicate that cognitive ability is negatively affected because when an individual is driving, they may experience delayed reaction time due to a divide in attention and/or focus on more crucial stimuli. This is also true when an individual chooses to use a hand held phone versus that of a hands free device, when talking to a person that is riding in the car, and when texting on a mobile device. Since, these issues are a growing concern within our society, I also chose to further address how divided attention can specifically affect cognitive ability and/or focus when; using a hand held device, hands free device, talking to a passenger, and text-messaging while driving. This issue is also extremely important because if more people learn that a lack of proper attention and focus affect driving, then less may be killed or injured. 


References:

Horrey, J. W. Wickens, D. C. (2044). The impact of cell phone conversations on driving: A Meta-Analytic Approach. Retrieved on October 7 2012 via the World Wide Web at
http://www.humanfactors.illinois.edu/Reports&PapersPDFs/TechReport/04-02.pdf

Anderson, R. J. (2010). Cognitive psychology and its implications (7th Edition). Worth Publishers. New York, NY.

Marinova, M. (2001). Testing driver cognitive distraction caused by cell phone use. Retrieved on October 6 2012 via the World Wide Web at
http://web.mit.edu/16.62X/www/Marinova_Margarita_621.pdf








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