Title

Cognitive load while driving impairs memory of moving but not stationary elements within the environment

Authors

Authors

L. D. Blalock; B. D. Sawyer; A. Kiken; R. S. Gutzwiller; C. L. McGill;B. A. Clegg

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Appl. Res. Mem. Cogn.

Keywords

Distracted driving; Cognitive load; Simulator; CELL PHONE CONVERSATIONS; DYNAMIC SPATIAL MEMORY; SITUATION AWARENESS; WORKING-MEMORY; INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES; ATTENTION; DISTRACTION; PERFORMANCE; PERCEPTION; ABILITIES; Psychology, Experimental

Abstract

The negative impact of cognitive load, such as cell phone conversations, while driving is well established, but understanding the nature of this performance deficit is still being developed. To test the impact of load on awareness of different elements in a driving scene, memory for items within the environment was examined under load and no load conditions. Participants drove through two different scenarios in a driving simulator, were periodically interrupted by a pause in the driving during, and were asked questions regarding moving and stationary objects in the environment. Participants in the load condition drove while concurrently counting backwards by sevens. Results indicate that driving under load conditions led to diminished knowledge of moving, but not stationary, objects in the scene. This resultsuggests not all types of knowledge are equally impaired. Potential implications for current theories of cell phone use while driving and applied attention theory are discussed. (C) 2014 Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

Volume

3

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

95

Last Page

100

WOS Identifier

WOS:000352994400008

ISSN

2211-3681

Share

COinS