Abstract
Our research examined the effects of hands-free cell phone conversations on the encoding of traffic-related information while operating a motor vehicle. We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the onset of a lead vehicle's brake lights while participants drove in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Compared to single-task driving conditions, the amplitude of the P300 component of the ERP was reduced by 50% when participants were conversing on the cell phone and the peak latency of the P300 was also delayed for these cellphone drivers. These psychophysiological data provide support the inattention-blindness hypothesis in which cell phone conversations impair the processing of information necessary for the safe operation of a motor vehicle.
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