We’ve all realized over the years that talking causes distracted driving, but research from UIUC has proven that driving actually distracts one from talking. According to the research, driving impairs your ability to comprehend and use language.
“The previous findings made no sense to those of us who have studied language,”said Gary Dell, a psycholinguist in the department of psychology at Illinois and corresponding author on the study. “You might think that talking is an easy thing to do and that comprehending language is easy. But it’s not. Speech production and speech comprehension are attention-demanding activities, and so they ought to compete with other tasks that require your attention – like driving.”
The study reflects the tradeoffs that occur when people try to communicate while performing other tasks, Dell said. “The relative balance of attention to any two tasks is going to vary,” he said. “And perhaps we don’t understand one another as well as we should because of this. With modern technology, we’re talking more and more while we are doing other things, but we may be understanding one another less and less.”
Driven to distraction: New study shows driving hinders talking – UI News Bureau
Tags: beckman institute, distracted driving, driving, research, Safety, talking, ui research
