tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439893903732515728.post1044155115515038655..comments2023-12-14T01:28:01.583-08:00Comments on Not Totally Rad: Driving While Under the Influence of fMRIThe Samurai Radiologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821218260930916714noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439893903732515728.post-258108825054872492008-03-06T16:41:00.000-08:002008-03-06T16:41:00.000-08:00That's a great question. Many of us could probably...That's a great question. <BR/><BR/>Many of us could probably swap anecdotes in which conversing with passengers distracted us from our driving. However, a live conversation may not be as bad a distraction as one might think.<BR/><BR/>This is supported by a great study by Drews et al titled <A HREF="http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/HFES2004-000597-1.pdf" REL="nofollow">Passenger and Cell-Phone Conversations in Simulated Driving</A>. In this study, they found no significant difference between a control condition (driving only) and conversation with a passenger. However, they found a significant increase in driver errors with cell-phone conversation, compared to passenger conversation.<BR/><BR/>Why the difference? Here's the money quote from that article: <I>"...passenger conversations differ from cell phone conversations because the surrounding traffic becomes a topic of the conversation, helping driver and passenger to share situation awareness, and mitigating the potential effects of conversation on driving."</I><BR/><BR/>Here's another excellent study form the same U of U lab, titled <A HREF="http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/DrivingAssessment2003.pdf" REL="nofollow">Fatal Distraction? A comparison of the cell-phone driver and the drunk driver</A>. In this experiment, they found that when <I>"...controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, cell-phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers."</I> <BR/><BR/>This same study found no difference in driving impairment between the use of a hand-held vs. a hands-free device. <BR/><BR/>There are many other great papers on this same topic by David Strayer and colleagues at the University of Utah <A HREF="http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/" REL="nofollow">Applied Cognition Lab</A>.The Samurai Radiologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14821218260930916714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439893903732515728.post-30061223176170474342008-03-06T15:06:00.000-08:002008-03-06T15:06:00.000-08:00This would seem to suggest that any human speech t...This would seem to suggest that any human speech the driver was listening to would lead to a decrease in his/her ability to drive. So, having someone in the front passenger side yaking away into the driver's ear would have a similar effect to the hands-free cell phone in that both leave the driver with both hands to steer and both ears to hear the yaking. My question is this: If the driver's spouse is the one responsible for the yaking, either in the phone or car, does the driver still demonstrate impaired driving? Or does that buzzing sound whining about "you should've taken that last left turn", not require the brain power that a stranger's voice does?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03122205485182060061noreply@blogger.com