Hands-Free Cell-Phones Impair Driving, Too

An article in press in the journal Brain Research describes the effects of cell-phone use on driving skills. Carnegie Mellon scientists gave 29 volunteers MRI scanning while they used a simulator to drive a vehicle down a winding road, with occasional distractions, including listening to recorded sentences; they were required to decide if the sentences were true or false. The number of deviations from the ideal path as well as more major errors – such as hitting a guardrail – was recorded, and the area of the brain that was active was identified.

The average number of deviations was significantly increased when listening was added to driving. Actual errors increased from an average of 8.7 to 12.8 with listening. And there were decreases in activity in those brain areas involved in spatial processing (in the parietal lobe) when there were periods of listening.

This study shows active listening, with a decision, interfered with driving ability. The participants didn’t have to speak, which would be required in cell-phone use. And there were no simulated tests of reactions to a dangerous situation. So the findings would probably be worse in a real-life situation.

An obvious question is whether listening to friends or the radio wouldn’t produce the same results. This probably requires further studies along these lines. But the value of this particular study is to show that it doesn’t matter if the cell-phone is hand-held or hands-free – there’s still a disruption of attention to driving.