Cognitive Distraction in the Wild: Next Steps—Addressing a Not-So-Humdrum Conundrum

In: Human factors: the journal of the Human Factors Society, Band 57, Heft 8, S. 1331-1333

Abstract

Strayer et al. in this volume show that increases in cognitive workload caused by drivers' involvement in distracting activities that allow them to keep their eyes on the road lead to decrements in indices of safe driving performance. Although there is agreement that in-vehicle tasks that require drivers to take their eyes off the road increase crash risk, there is mounting controversy about whether in-vehicle tasks that do not require drivers to take their eyes off the forward roadway increase crash risk—thus the conundrum: How can there be an abundance of cognitively distracting activities and controversy about whether such activities increase crash risk?