Two experiments using a driving simulation task examined the distracting effects of the most common secondary tasks that young drivers engage in: conversation and listening to music. The first experiment, by the use of experimental confederates engaged the drivers in a naturalistic conversationeither over a mobile phone or as a passenger. The distracting consequences of these conditions had different effects for the male and female drivers. Relative to a silent control condition the female drivers appeared to be more distracted when conversing on a mobile phone than did the male drivers, and the male drivers appeared to be more distracted by the conversation with a passenger. The second experiment examined the effect of listening to music, and whether its tempo was important in determining its role asa source of distraction. Young drivers listened to music that had been chosen on the basis of its current popularity that either had a fast or a slow tempo, and drove a programmed route that required both easy and difficult driving maneuvers. Gender influences were again observed in the easy driving environment. Male drivers made more errors listening to slow tempo music, than they did to fast tempo music; whereas the opposite was found for the female drivers. The increased errors made by all drivers in the moredifficult driving environment did not reveal any differential effects dueto tempo or gender. The results of this study are interpreted in terms ofdifferences in gender susceptibility to optimal mental workloads for driving.
Abstract