We all know that talking on a cell phone and/or texting while driving is a dangerous combination. Did you know that even while talking on a cell phone with the “hands free” option it is still just as dangerous as holding a cell phone and talking while driving? Our brain activity in our parietal lobe (that’s the part associated with driving) decreases up to 37 % while listening to someone talking on the phone. (National Safety Council Mission, Understanding the distracted Brain. Why Driving While Using Hands-Free Cell phone is Risky Behavior. White Paper April 2012. http://www.nsc.org/DistractedDrivingDocuments/Cognitive-Distraction-White-Paper.pdf ) That’s insane.
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to be a passenger in my 19 year old daughter’s car. While she was driving, she received a phone call which she answered with her “hands free” option. During her brief conversation; she ran a stop sign, veered into another lane and started tapping on her brakes for no reason. We had only traveled ½ mile before I had her hang up and pull over. I could not believe that in that short period of time, my daughter would lose control of her senses. The worst part about this was that she didn’t even realize that she did it.
As we have learned in Lesson 4: Attention, pg., 10 online, people use attentional processing/up processing while holding conversations with other people and driving.(The Pennsylvania State University 2015. PSYCH 256: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/psych256/002/content/05_lesson/10_page.html)
Unfortunately, our brains cannot carry out multiple complex tasks in tandem. In fact, our brains appear to have a finite amount of space for tasks requiring attention; such as talking and driving at the same time. (Blakeslee, Sandra New York Times News Service, Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 2001. http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/news/sandiegouniontribune-dualtask.html)
Marcel Just, a psychology professor and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh conducted a study which involved participants who carried out two highly independent tasks concurrently; talking and driving, that used very different parts of the brain; the temporal and partial lobe. The results showed that instead of the normal 74 voxels that would normally be used when conducting the two tasks separately, the participants used 42 voxels. (Blakeslee, Sandra New York Times News Service, Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 2001. http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/news/sandiegouniontribune-dualtask.html) The results confirm that our brain activity is reduced when we try to combine two complex tasks.
In conclusion, our brains are amazing. They function and perform tasks that are still unexplainable. As we being to unlock our brains full potential and understand its amazing capabilities, we will also begin to understand why certain functions and areas of our brains seem to have limited capacities. As for the studies that have been conducted on driving while talking on cell phones; whether holding or hands free, we are beginning to understand that our brains do not multi task. They shift focus (inattention blindness), our reaction times lesson which impairs our performance. The lesson learned, do not talk/text on a cell phone while driving. It can cost you your life or someone else’s.
References
Blakeslee, Sandra. Multitasking Drains Brains. New York Times News Service. Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 2001. http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/news/sandiegouniontribune-dualtask.html
PennState World Campus. The Pennsylvania State University 2015. PSYCH 256: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. Lesson 4: Attention pg., 10 https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/psych256/002/content/05_lesson/10_page.html
National Safety Council Mission, Understanding the distracted Brain. Why Driving While Using Hands-Free Cell phone is Risky Behavior. White Paper April 2012. http://www.nsc.org/DistractedDrivingDocuments/Cognitive-Distraction-White-Paper.pdf
I completely agree with you about texting and driving as well. As someone who grew up with texting, I’ve noticed that a lot of people tend to think of this as only a problem with teens and young adults, and that “experienced” drivers in their 30s or older tend to think of this as something they can do because they are older and more responsible. the fact is, like you stated, our brains simply aren’t wired to be able to give the attention that is needed to two tasks at the same time, no matter what our experience level or apparent hands free devices. It’s insane that our brains, which are capable of so much, are not able to do this seemingly simple task, but the fact is a task like this is pushing it to its limit and could end lives. When I first started driving, I used to text and drive, but after a few near hits I said enough is enough, it isn’t worth my life! I really hope that the true abilities of our brains become something people are more aware of soon!
I completely agree that texting or talking on the phone while driving is very bad. I never knew that our brain got confused when trying to complete two tasks. The fact that we use up-processing makes a lot of sense. I personally have used my cellphone before while driving. I have texted and talked on the phone. I have ran red lights, forgot where I was going, and almost caused an accident at one point. You think that if you keep looking up at the road that you will be okay, but you are so focused on the text message or phone call, that you simply can’t do both at once. I have also hit deer before while texting and driving. You do not have enough reaction time either, because at night time, your phone is a lot brighter when being used inside a car. When you go from light to dark, your eyes have to adjust. All of us have used our cellphones while driving at least once. Some of us have learned from it, while others continue to do it daily. I always wondered why it was always so difficult for me to concentrate on driving, even when I was just simply answering a phone call. I was still focused on the road, but my brain wasn’t. When you get to deeply involved into a conversation, your brain will solely focus on that. This article is very interesting and I think that it teaches you a lot. There are so many accidents daily that include texting while driving. I think that if more people had this knowledge, that the number would decrease. Our brain literally cannot complete these two tasks at once.