So you think talking on your cell phone doesn't distract your driving?
September 4th 2009 23:48
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Carnegie Mellon Neuroscientist Uses Brain Imaging to Prove
Cell Phones Distract Drivers
Dialing, texting and otherwise using a cell phone is a distraction for
phone use in cars. In August, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation announced
an upcoming summit for lawmakers and experts to discuss driving distractions
and whether banning or limiting cell phones while driving is necessary.
According to Carnegie Mellon neuroscientist Marcel Just, simply listening to
someone speak on the other end of a cell phone is enough to impair driving.
Just and his colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to
study volunteers using a driver simulator. When they were listening to a
sentence, they were more likely to weave in their lane than when they were
driving undisturbed. Furthermore, the fMRI scans showed that listening to
someone speak while they were driving reduced by 37 percent the amount of
brain activity associated with driving, compared to driving alone, as shown in
the accompanying graphic. This decrease in available brain resources can cause
drivers to commit the same types of driving errors that can occur under the
influence of alcohol.
ignore someone speaking to them; the processing of a spoken message was so
automatic that it could not be gated out, and continued to affect the brain
activation associated with a second concurrent task. This study shows the
dangers of cell phone use by drivers can not be overcome by strategic control
of one's attention.
Just's research shows that making cell phones hands-free or voice-activated is
not sufficient in eliminating distractions to drivers. "Drivers need to keep
not only their hands on the wheel; they also have to keep their brains on the
road," Just said. "The clear implication of our work is that engaging in a
conversation could jeopardize the judgment and reaction time if an atypical or
unusual driving situation arose. Driving in quick-moving traffic is no place
for an involved personal or business discussion, let alone texting."
Why: Just is a pioneer in using brain imaging to discover how humans perform
mental tasks and has testified in front of the Pennsylvania General Assembly's
House Transportation Committee on the dangers of hand-held phones and driving.
His brain research also includes identifying the "team play" among different
brain areas -- a theory that explains how the brain compensates for damage
from injuries such as stroke by recruiting back-up players. Additionally,
Just and his colleague Tom Mitchell used brain imaging to identify the content
of thoughts of concrete objects, being able for the first time to read the
minds of people in their scanner. A January 2009 "60 Minutes" report featured
Just and Mitchell demonstrating and explaining their thought identification
work.
Why is this necessary ? - to prove it to the idiot brigade, if u ask me, so here is the link for you
From: Reuters, sorry the link was not functional
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