Week 5 applied cognitive tutorial by Holly Snowden https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0 en-us 2020-10-26 16:26:15 UTC 2025-12-09 15:41:09 UTC hello@padlet.com Cognitive Psychology ps20slsc1 https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867258813 Divided attention refers to the ability to focus our cognitive resources on more than one thing within the same period of time.  Wolfe et al (2009) stated that we selectively  pay attention to a stimulus by blocking out other distractions in the background. For example when trying to pay attention to a lecture whilst your flat mate is playing music from their room, you have to select which one to attend to and ignore the other.

Our divided attention is impacted on: the task difficulty, practise and the task similarity.
Task difficulty~The harder the tasks are to complete the more difficult it is multitask and divide our attention as one requires more cognitive resources.
Practise- The more we practise a task the easier it becomes in which we may build automaticity.
Task Similarity- The more similar the tasks are to do the more difficult it is to do them co-currently as they require the same cognitive resources.

Driving whilst using a mobile phone
~Using a mobile phone and driving both use mental cognitive resources and therefore is dangerous when trying to multitask to 2.
Strayer and Johnstone (2001)  conducted an experiment where participants sat in a stimulated car and  were told to press the brakes as soon as they seen the red light appear, the zig being whether the participants had their phones or not. Unsurprisingly, the results shown that the participants who used their phones were slower to react to the red lights and in some cases even missed the red lights.

In another study Strayer investigated the effects of using a mobile phone but hands free compared to not using a mobile phone. Within both high and low levels of traffic the group using hand free phones had a higher reaction time to those who didn’t.

 Regardless of whether the phone was hands free or not the other conditions still had higher reactions times. This suggests that it’s not from physically holding the phone that’s the problem but it’s the cognitive resources we use when interacting with our phones and the inability to multitask perfectly.

Carid et al——> Stated that the effect of reaction times were much larger when the drivers were talking as opposed to them listening .

Spyropoulouc conducted a study to investigate how the usage of a phone affects the performance of driving. The conditions were as follows ‘ handheld, hands-free (wired earphone), and speaker to capture this effect’. The participants engaged with a driving simulator and each drove ‘6 drives of about 5km each’. Participants were told to answer the phone and then immediately brake the car once they seen a stop sign appear on the screen within the conditions. Additionally the participants completed a questionnaire after based on the topics ‘information on mobile phone use, driving behaviour and socioeconomic characteristics’.

From the questionnaires Spyropoulouc found that 76% of the participants  use their mobile phone whilst driving in real life 20% using their phone in a legal manner with Bluetooth and the other 56% using it illegally.

They found that “participants who used their phones whilst driving demonstrated lower reaction times”. It is important to recognise that other factors contributed to a difference in reaction times including ‘ maximum driving speed, accident history, age and gender’. Although we cannot suggest causality we can infer that purely just going on your phone whilst driving increases reaction times’.



Spyropoulou, I. and Linardou, M., 2020. Modelling The Effect Of Mobile Phone Use On Driving Behaviour Considering Different Use Modes.


]]> 2020-10-27 19:14:21 UTC https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867258813 holsnowden https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867523338 1. Define divided attention
The ability to respond to multiple tasks concurrently/at the same time

2. Identify the factors that influence divided attention
The ability to multitask is affected by numerous factors about the tasks.

Firstly there is the influence of practice which was demonstrated by Schneider and Shiffrin (1977). Their methodology included showing participants a target stimulus followed by test frames that were shown rapidly. This task needed the participant to multitask: restraining the target in memory and attending to the distractor stimuli and comparing this to the memory set. Results showed that at first the performance was only 55% but this improved to 90% at approximately 900 trials. It was also noted that after 600 trials participants reported a sense of automaticity meaning they felt like they could do the task without much conscious thought or attention

Secondly, the difficulty of the task also influences divided attention. If the target and the distractor were letters and if the targets on some trials were distractors on others, then participants did not report automaticity.

In addition to this, the similarity of a task can also impact the ability to multitask. When tasks are very similar it becomes more difficult to complete them at the same time. This was investigated by McCleod (1977) who illustrated the impact task of modality. In this investigation participants had to identify tones by either pointing at labels or verbally identifying them and at the same time had to follow the contour of a line. This meant the participant was using one hand for pointing and one for following the contour of a line which used manual and visual resources. Results showed that in the condition where the tone task required pointing (so both hands were in use for different tasks) more errors were made. This is believed to be because the tasks are very similar in nature thus making them hard to do simultaneously.

3. Summarise findings on driving while using a mobile phone
Findings showed that driving using a mobile phone negatively impacted driving ability, whether it was hand held or hands free. For example, Strayer and Johnson (2001) conducted a study in which participants were in a driving simulation and had to press brakes in response to a red light. The results showed that the participants who were using a mobile phone had a slower response time and were more likely to miss red lights. The results also highlighted that the response time was slower whether the phone was hands-free or not. This is because using a mobile phone uses cognitive resources that are needed for driving.
It is also suggested that texting produces more of a negative effect on driving ability/reaction times than talking on the phone. This is shown in a study by Caird et al. (2014) who conducted a follow up study using a meta analysis. It was found that texting affected reaction times, eye movements, lane positioning, speed, headway and stimulus detection. The results also showed that there were smaller reductions for reading texts compared to typing and reading. To further support this, a study by Strayer, D. L., Drews, F. A., & Johnston, W. A. (2003) examined the effects of hands-free mobile phone conversations on simulated driving. Results showed that conversations using a hands-free mobile phone still impaired the driver’s reaction time when responding to a vehicle braking in front of them. This study used eye-tracking data and it indicated that this was due to reduced attention and suggests that the decrease in reaction times produced by using a hands free phone is by reduced attention to visual inputs.
However, it was found that having a conversation with someone in the car is different to a conversation with somebody via a hands-free or hand-held mobile phone. A study by Drewa, Pasupathi and Strayer (2008) showed that surrounding traffic often becomes a topic of conversation and the driver/passenger share situation awareness. This means that the driving condition influences the complexity of the conversation which, in turn, reduces the negative effects having a conversation has on driving.

]]> 2020-10-27 20:33:29 UTC https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867523338 One of the leading causes of crashes is the using a mobile phone while driving. 70 countries have banned the use of hand held phones while driving in response to this but nowhere prohibits the use of hands free devices. The article titles the Zhang, L., Cui, B., Yang, M., Guo, F., Wang, J.,(2019) Effect of Using Mobile Phones on Driver’s Control Behaviour Based on Naturalistic Driving Data. Studied if hands free devices had any differentiating effects on a driver to a hands free mobile. They had ppts engage in 5 Operations including: dialling, answering, talking, listening, hanging up, and viewing information on a mobile device. A driver’s attention is typically divided between performing control operations and processing driving environment information. Using a mobile requires several operations depending on your activity type and the intensity and duration the activity impact This paper argued that the use of mobile phones mainly impacts the intensity of the driver control, sensitivity of control operation and the stability of vehicle control state. The results show that there was a strong correlation between distracted operations and driving control behaviour. Drivers used different resource allocation strategies to manage extra stimuli which reduced the drivers attention and driving control behaviour. Listening and talking had the same negative effects on the driver. Viewing a mobile phone reduced the drivers lateral control and answering and dialling reduced drivers longitudinal control. Talking and listening however had the most significant negative effects on longitudinal control suggesting hands free devices still significantly reduce drivers attention and driving capabilities so hands free phones should also be prohibited whilst driving as the drivers cognition and attention on driving is compensated during the use of these devices. oscarsmith1702 https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867940073 2020-10-28 00:16:50 UTC https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/867940073 Define Divided Attention:Divided attention is the ability to respond, seemingly simultaneously to multiple tasks or demands.Identify the Factors that Influence Divided Attention:Divided attention is influenced by three key factors, these are practice, task difficulty and task similarity.The impact of practice was demonstrated by Schneider and Shiffrin (1977) involved the participants being shown a stimulus, followed by test frames shown rapidly. This task required carrying out two tasks, these were retaining the target in the memory and attending to distractor stimuli and comparing to the memory set. This experiment found that the initial performance was around 55% correct which rose to 90% correct at around 900 trials. After 600 trials participants reported a sense of automaticity.Task difficulty was a focus in later experiments, in these experiments it showed that if both the target and the distractors were letters and if the target on some trials were distractors on others, no automaticity was shown.McCleod (1977) investigated task similarity and demonstrated the impact of task modality. In this experiment participants had to identity tones by pointing at labels or identifying them verbally. At the same time as completing this task, participants had to follow a contour of a line which required visual and manual resources (one hand for contour and one for pointing). These tasks were difficult to do concurrently due to their similar nature. This shows we can perform more than one task at the same time, but usually at a cost which is the breakdown of a performance.Summarise findings on driving while using a mobile phone:Drews, Pasupathi and Stayer (2008) conducted an experiment that showed that someone who is present is different than talking on the phone. It found the surrounding traffic becomes a topic of the conversation, with the driver and the passenger to share situation awareness. The driving condition has a direct influence on the complexity of the conversation, reducing the potential negative effects of a conversation on driving. A passenger who is too “supportive” by constantly commenting and directing attention in an “over-controlling” fashion has a potential negative impact on performance.Strayer et al (2003) conducted a cell phone study where there were two groups, group 1 drove in a simulator and they were asked to brake unexpectedly. In group two they were asked to drive and talk on a hands-free phone at the same time and brake unexpectedly. This study showed that during low traffic conditions group 2 took slightly longer to press the break and during the high traffic conditions group 2 took much longer to press the brake. Caird et al (2014) had a follow up study, they conducted a meta-analysis studies of texting and driving. It showed that typing and reading text messages adversely affected eye movements, stimulus detection, reaction time, collisions, lane positioning, speed and headway. There was smaller for reading alone compared to typing and typing and reading. Dingus et al (2016) reported an increase in the prevalence of texting while driving. Atwood et al (2018) reported similar findings, with those who text more are at a higher risk of crashing.Redelmier and Tibishirani (1997) conducted an experiment and examine mobile phone call records of 699 drivers involved collisions. They found that using a mobile phone was associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision (4.3 times more likely). Using hands-free phones was no safer than using a handheld phone. The relative risk was similar for driver who differed in characteristics like age and driving experience. Stayer and Johnson (2001) conducted a study where participants required to press the brakes in response to a red light. The results of this study showed that those using a mobile phone were slower to respond and missed more red lights and this was regardless of whether the phone was hands-free or not. This shows that it’s not driving with one hand and that it is using a phone uses cognitive resources that would normally be used for driving. ed19khs https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/868221382 2020-10-28 03:02:17 UTC https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/868221382 Define divided attentionThe ability to respond, seemingly simultaneously, to multiple tasks or demands• Identify the factors that influence divided attentionPractice, task difficulty, task similarity• Summarise findings on driving while using a mobile phone• Consider both talking and texting• Hand-held vs hands-free• Compare to conversations with a person in the vehicleDrivers using a mobile phone whilst driving were slower to respond (Strayer and Johnstone 2001). Mobile phones use cognitive resources that would normally be used for driving. Using a mobile phone whilst driving x4 the risk of a collison (Redelmeier & Tishirani 1997). Using a handsfree phone was no more safe than using a hand held phone, and the risk was similar for drivers of differing characteristics (age, sex, experience etc). Reaction time to events increased when drivers used a mobile phone (Caird et al 2008), this effect was observed as being greater when drivers were talking compared to just listening. In a follow up study it was found that typing and reading text messages increased the risk of collisions and the time taken to react, as well as affecting road positioning and speed (negatively) (Caird et al 2014). Compared to a conversation with a person in a vehicle, it as found that a conversation on the phone differed in effect. It was found to show that a conversation with a passenger was influenced by the driving condition, and that the complexity of the conversation was relative to the conditions of the drive. This was shown to potentially reduce the potential negative impact of the conversation on the driver. However, it was also shown that a passenger who is too supportive by constantly commenting on the driver was a distraction and could have potentially negative impacts on the driver (Drews, Pasupathi & Strayer 2008).https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228794080_Cell_phone_use_while_driving_a_literature_review_and_recommendations dwright1995 https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/869029228 2020-10-28 10:11:49 UTC https://padlet.com/holsnowden/pg20g6c3j1whcrx0/wish/869029228