Its not just that, we have a relatively limited attentional resource pool - an analogy here not literally. With different demands on on the available attentional resources, some stuff will be ignored, or the user will not react to it as fast. Cell phone conversations may require a lot more attention than for instance talking with another person or listening to a commentator on the radio. Given that the person's attentional resources are most used up and a significant portion is focused elsewhere than on driving, slower reaction, or plainly ignoring new events are almost inevitable.
larry At 09:52 AM 6/5/2003 -0400, Nick McClure wrote: >Seems simple. > >A passenger will stop talking if they recognize a sticky situation that the >driver must act upon, however a person on the cell phone doesn't know, so >they don't know to shut-up and let the driver concentrate. > > > > > In a nutshell researchers found that it doesn't matter whether you are > > using a hands-free cellphone or not. If you are talking on a cell phone, > > your reaction time to outside events is very poor. The researchers did not > > find similar results when the subjects were talking with someone else (as > > if the other was a passenger for instance) or listening to music. > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
