ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the laboratory, simulator, and on-road driving literature in order to try and understand the nature of the information processing limitations that constrain the performance of the typical driver when simultaneously trying to perform an auditory secondary task. It focuses on the deleterious effects of using a mobile phone while driving, it is important not to forget that talking while driving can also help to reduce boredom. Ivan Brown and his colleagues conducted a number of the earliest studies that attempted to determine the cause of any dual-task interference while a driver was driving. The participants in the driving simulator study performed a speech task and a simulated driving task under both single- and dual-task conditions. The chapter also focuses on the attentional limitations associated with one specific form of in-car technology – the mobile phone. Interestingly, interacting with a passenger is cited more frequently than mobile phone use as playing a causal role in distraction-related car crashes.
