手机可能很方便，但在某些地方它们带来的伤害也不少——那就是在方向盘后面。心理学研究显示，当司机们使用手机的时候，不管手是否放在方向盘上，他们对于 路况的注意力都会降低，驾驶技能会变得糟糕，甚至还不如酒后驾车的时候。交谈的复杂性是抢夺注意力的罪魁祸首——不管司机是在跟乘客交谈还是自己在打手 机。在人自己头脑中的"分心"，就像环境引起的分心一样具有"破坏力"。-psytopic.com

被迫的分心：为什么驾车的时候不要打手机？

研究结果

手机可能很方便，但在某些地方它们带来的伤害也不少——那就是在方向盘后面。心理学研究显示，当司机们使用手机的时候，不管手是否放在方向盘上，他们对于路况的注意力都会降低，驾驶技能会变得糟糕，甚至还不如酒后驾车的时候。流行病学研究发现，使用手机跟意外交通事故增加4层有关联——那种危险与血液酒精含量过高的危险程度不相上下。

遗憾的是，手机却没有引起应有的关注。大量出现的车内技术，比如导航显示器、因特网浏览器，尽管这些发明是为了让长途驾驶变得更有效率，但同时也给司机提出了新的挑战。认知心理学家和人因学工程师联手证明这些小玩意儿会怎么影响驾驶状况和交通安全。

David Strayer，尤他大学应用认知实验室的博士，研究手机影响的课题长达五年多。通过驾驶高保真模拟器，同时控制驾驶任务的难度和时间，他的实验室已经获得确定无疑的科学证据：手机交谈搅乱了驾驶状况。人类的注意力容量有限，研究显示，打手机会引起一种驾驶视野中的"疏忽性的失明"。

在一项研究中，当司机拿手机说话的时候，他们对于紧急事件（比如在交通灯或减速的车前刹车）的反应比没打手机的人要明显慢。有时候，司机受到很大的干扰，最终导致交通事故。听广播节目或者录音不会干扰驾驶，这只能说明仅仅是这类东西不足以形成干扰。然而，参与交谈会使注意力从加工驾驶环境的信息转移出来，致使缺少足够的能力达到安全驾驶的水平。

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按照Strayer的实验研究，打手机的司机也更可能错过交通信号，经常看不到公告栏和其他标志。一个特殊的追踪视线轨迹的仪器（眼动仪）用于测量司机在驾驶的时候究竟看哪里。尽管（在模拟状态下）司机控制自己的视线盯着路上的物体，他们仍然"看不见"——因为打手机时的他们的注意力不在路上。

2003年西班牙的一项研究提供了确凿的证据，这是一个珍贵的实验，司机驾驶真的汽车在真的高速公路上行驶，手机中复杂的交谈影响视觉搜索，并且使得司机探查、区分视觉目标以对其做出反应的能力降低30% 之多。在这项研究中，心理学家Miguel Angel Recarte Goldarecena博士（the Universidad Complutense）和Luis Miguel Nunes González博士（西班牙交通安全局）发现不用手拿的移动电话和汽车内置的实时通话系统同样会产生相同的效应。

在一项2002年的研究中，他们发现低要求的交谈可以做到不对驾驶产生干扰。他们得出结论：交谈的复杂性是抢夺注意力的罪魁祸首——不管司机是在跟乘客交谈还是自己在打手机。

因此，在人自己头脑中的"分心"，就像环境引起的分心一样具有"破坏力"。

Strayer和他的同事比较了手拿话机和非手拿话机的数据，在二者对于驾驶状况的损害方面几乎没有发现差异，所以他们说，对于只禁止手拿移动电话的规则，有理由质疑其科学基础。

尤他实验室也在测量"使用手机"跟其它活动（例如最近的酒精消费）相比所造成的危险性的高低。测量得到具有震撼性的结果：手机打电话（哪怕不需手拿）也会比血液酒精含量超标（.08wt/vol）对驾驶状况的损害更大。利用高保真模拟器，测得当司机在打手机的同时，刹车速度比没在打电话的司机要慢，并且引起更多的"车祸"。他们的驾驶水平受损，事实上比醉酒的人还要高一些。

为什么会这样？

Strayer的实验室正在构建理论来解释为什么使用手机会破坏驾驶状况。目前为止，现实证据指出，谈话迫使司机将注意力从视觉景象中撤回。

Frank Durso博士, 和Kerstan Mork，John Morris，来自德克萨斯科技大学（Texas Tech University），也尝试界定"分心"的本质。它是一个特定的认知功能吗？它是注意，还是更广的认知能力？更具体来说，它是不是心理意象和现实情景的冲突，比如车外的交谈让司机的思路转到了其他地方？答案可以帮助那些政策的制定者，确定如何对这些设备作出最适合的规定。Durso说，不管立法与否，提高司机对于分心引起的危险意识都是重要的。

从研究到现实生活

首先最明显的是，司机放下手机，就可以让他们自己、乘客和路上其他的行人更安全。最佳的建议是：在安全的地方停下车来接电话或打电话；如果电话确实紧急，那么至少应该开到路边或高速公路的一侧进行。

第二，司机还应该知道不管手机是否需要手拿，它所造成的分心效应都没有差异。通过这项研究，交谈的心理活动，不管是面对面还是打手机，都让人的心思不在路上。这时候人只会顾及头脑里处理的事情，而完全不会顾及手中处理的事情。

第三，司机想要用手机打电话之前可以先问问自己，是否愿意酒后驾车。如果不愿意，那么应该果断地放下电话。

第四，司机应该注意车中分心现象的本质——那些旨在改善驾驶经验的新仪器会引起更高的注意，可能引起有违原意的副作用。已有很多心理学实验证明，车内或车外的多重任务处理会分散注意力并限制工作记忆——而这两者都是安全驾驶必备的。尤其是车内设备，司机在使用新型配件或装置时应该经过仔细考虑。

最后，司机应该记住那些横断研究中有关手机与驾驶的警告（教育或立法中的警告）；那些研究是针对不同年龄，不同受教育水平和驾车年限的司机而展开。驾车过程中容易分心的程度与司机聪明与否，或者他是不是熟练并无关系。事实上，心理学家Durso和他的博士生Andy Dattel指出：尽管熟练的人能自动化的从事许多事情，但检测危险并非其中之一。因此，Durso说："任何破坏资源管理的时间都会产生相应的后果，即使那个人是位专家。"

原文：

Driven to Distraction
Why driving and cell phones don’t mix

The Research Studies

Cell phones may be convenient but there’s one place they seem to do more harm than good – and that’s behind the steering wheel. Psychological research is showing that when drivers use cell phones, whether hand-held or hands-off, their attention to the road drops and driving skills become even worse than if they had too much to drink. Epidemiological research has found that cell-phone use is associated with a four-fold increase in the odds of getting into an accident – a risk comparable to that of driving with blood alcohol at the legal limit.

But cell phones aren’t the only cause for concern. A host of emerging, even more engaging and time-consuming in-car technologies, such as navigational displays and Internet browsers, although developed to make long commutes more productive, also present new challenges for drivers. Cognitive psychologists and human-factors engineers are teaming up to document how these new gadgets affect driving performance and traffic safety.

David Strayer, PhD, of the Applied Cognition Laboratory at the University of Utah has studied cell-phone impact for more than five years. His lab, using driving high-fidelity simulators while controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, has obtained unambiguous scientific evidence that cell-phone conversations disrupt driving performance. Human attention has a limited capacity, and studies suggest that talking on the phone causes a kind of “inattention blindness” to the driving scene.

In one study, when drivers talked on a cell phone, their reactions to imperative events (such as braking for a traffic light or a decelerating vehicle) were significantly slower than when they were not talking on the cell phone. Sometimes, drivers were so impaired that they were involved in a traffic accident. Listening to the radio or books on tape did not impair driving performance, suggesting that listening per se is not enough to interfere. However, being involved in a conversation takes attention away from the ability to process information about the driving environment well enough to safely operate a motor vehicle.

According to Strayer’s laboratory research, cell-phone drivers were also more likely to miss traffic signals and often failed to see billboards and other signs. A special eye-tracking device measured where, exactly, drivers looked while driving. Even when drivers directed their gaze at objects on the road (during simulations), they still didn’t “see” them because their attention – during a cell-phone call – was elsewhere.

Corroboration came from a 2003 Spanish study that found, in a rare experiment using drivers in real cars on actual highways, that complex phone conversations affected visual scanning and reduced a driver’s ability to detect, discriminate among and respond to visual targets – by as much as 30 percent. In this study, by psychologists Miguel Angel Recarte Goldarecena, PhD, of the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, and Luis Miguel Nunes González, PhD, of Spain’s Administration for Traffic Safety, found equivalent effects from hands-free phone and live in-car conversations. In a 2002 study, they had found that low-demand conversations could be held with no interference. They concluded that the complexity of the conversation was what compromised concentration, whether the driver talked by phone or to a passenger. Thus, distractions inside one’s own head can be just as disruptive as environmental distractions.

Strayer and his colleagues compared data for hand-held and hands-free devices and found no difference in the impairment to driving, thus, they say, raising doubts about the scientific basis for regulations that prohibit only hand-held cell phones.

The Utah lab is also measuring the increased risk associated with cell-phone use relative to other real-world activities – most recently, alcohol consumption. Disturbingly, forthcoming research will show that talking on a cell phone (even hands-free) hurts driving even more than driving with blood alcohol at the legal limit (.08 wt/vol). When talking on a cell phone, drivers using a high-fidelity simulator were slower to brake and had more “accidents” than when they weren’t on the phone. Their impairment level was actually a little higher than that of people intoxicated by ethanol (alcohol).

Why Does This Happen?

Strayer’s lab is building a theoretical account for why cell phone use disrupts driving performance. So far, the evidence points to conversations forcing drivers to withdraw their attention from the visual scene.

Frank Durso, PhD, with Kerstan Mork and John Morris of Texas Tech University, are also attempting to define the nature of the distraction. Is it a specific cognitive function? Is it attention, a broader enabler of cognitive function? More concretely, is it a conflict between the mental image and the current situation, such as an “out-of-the-car” conversation that puts drivers somewhere else mentally? The answer could help policy makers determine how to suitably regulate these devices. With or without legislation, says Durso, it’s important to raise drivers’ consciousness about the dangers of distraction.

From Research to Real Life

First and most obviously, drivers can make themselves, their passengers and other people on the road safer by putting down their cell phones. The standard advice is park in a safe place to make or take calls; at the very least, pull over to the curb or a highway shoulder if phone communication is truly urgent.

Second, drivers should also be aware that whether a cell phone is hands-on or hands-free makes no difference in terms of mental distraction. According to the research, the mental activity of conversation, whether in person or over the phone, is what takes one’s mind off the road. What happens in the head happens regardless of what happens with the hands.

Third, drivers tempted to talk on the mobile might ask themselves if they would drive drunk. If not, they should put down the phone.

Fourth, drivers can pay attention to the nature of distraction in the car – with heightened awareness that new devices aimed at a better driving “experience” can have unintended side effects. Multitasking in or out of the car has been shown in many psychological experiments to divide attention and limit working memory – both essential to safe driving. Especially in the car, drivers should aim for the thoughtful use of any new devices or gadgets.

Finally, drivers need to remember that warnings (and, in some localities, legislation) about cell-phones and driving are prompted by cross-sectional studies of drivers of varied ages, educational levels, and years of driving. Susceptibility to distraction while driving has nothing to do with smarts or skill. In fact, psychologist Durso and his doctoral student Andy Dattelpoint out that although experts can do many things automatically, detecting hazards is not among them. Thus, Durso says, “anything that disrupts resource management can have consequences even in experts.”

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