Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone

TLDR

Dual‑task experiments evaluated how cellular‑phone conversations affect simulated driving performance. While passive listening (radio or tape) and continuous handheld‑phone shadowing did not impair driving, active phone conversations—especially word‑generation shadowing and unconstrained handheld or hands‑free talks—significantly increased missed traffic signals and slowed reactions, indicating that cellular‑phone use diverts attention from driving.

Abstract

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.