Experimental analysis of interactions between ‘where’ and ‘what’ aspects of information in listening and driving: A possible cognitive risk of using mobile phones during driving

Toward understanding a cognitive risk of using mobile phones during driving, we carried out experiments based on a dichotomy of the human visual system: the dorsal subsystem for dealing with spatial or ‘where’ aspect, i.e. locations, of visual information and the ventral subsystem for its ‘what’ aspect, i.e. colors and shapes. Driving in a situation was assumed to use either the dorsal or the ventral subsystem depending on the aspect of visual information required for the situation. Hearing through a mobile phone in a situation was also assumed to use either of the subsystems for mentally imaging each of the aspects. Subjects in the experiments concurrently carried out visual and auditory tasks. On one hand, they differentially responded to either location or color in the visual task, and their reaction times were measured. On the other hand, they mentally imaged either location or color in the auditory task. Reaction times were found to be longer when the aspect (location or color) in the concurrent auditory task was the same as that in the visual task than when different. The result was discussed with respect to the dichotomy of the visual system and suggested to be relevant to situations of driving and talking on a mobile phone.