Persistent effects of mobile phone conversation while driving after disconnect: Physiological evidence and driving performance

Mostafa Pouyakian; Mojtaba Zokaei; Mohsen Falahati; Ali Nahvi; Milad Abbasi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17501

Persistent effects of mobile phone conversation while driving after disconnect: Physiological evidence and driving performance

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 23;9(6):e17501. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17501. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Mostafa Pouyakian¹, Mojtaba Zokaei², Mohsen Falahati², Ali Nahvi³, Milad Abbasi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Cognitive workload has been known as a key factor in traffic accidents, which can be highly increased by talking on the phone while driving. A wide range of studies around the world investigated the effects of mobile phone conversations on driving performance and traffic accidents. But less noticed is the durability of cognitive effects of mobile phone conversations. This study aimed to determine the effects of different types of mobile phone conversations on physiological response and driving performance during and after the conversation. Heart rate, heart rate variability (physiological response), Standard deviation of lane position (SDLP), and the relative distance between two cars (driving performance) of 34 samples (male and female) in the driving simulator were recorded. In this study, three types of conversations (neutral, cognitive, and arousal) were used. Neutral conversation did not pursue specific purpose questions. Cognitive conversations were simple mathematical problem-solving questions and arousal conversations aimed at arousing participant emotions. Each conversation was used as a secondary task in a condition. The study had three conditions; in each condition the participant drove for 15 min. Each condition consisted of 5 min of driving (Background), 5 min of driving and conversation (dual tasks) and 5 min of driving after conversation to trace the effects of the conversation. Vehicle speed was 110 km/h in each of the three conditions using car-following scenario. The results showed that neutral conversations had no significant effects on physiological response. Though, arousal conversations had significant effects on physiological responsiveness and driving performance during conversations, where it was even more significant after disconnection. Therefore, the content of the conversation determines the amount of cognitive load imposed on the driver. Considering the persistence of cognitive effects caused by conversation, the risk of traffic accidents is still high even after disconnection.

Keywords: Cognitive; Heart rate variability; Mobile phone; Traffic accidents; Workload.