MOBILE PHONE RESEARCH:IS SENDING a text message too much for your brain to handle? If you are walking at the same time it just might be.
A laboratory has been established at the University of Aston in Birmingham to investigate the risks of texting when on the move. It uses artificial environments to test people’s ability to text and walk at the same time.
“Mobile technology exploded really fast and we are now studying the impact on society,” said research leader Dr Joanna Lumsden. When writing text messages we “tend to block out a lot of what is going on around us”. Anecdotal evidence from doctors in emergency rooms suggests many accidents are caused by this kind of distraction.
In the laboratory, environments which constantly change are created, said Dr Lumsden. People are then studied as they try to send a text and walk around the artificial environment.
“They interact with the device while walking”, she explained. “Then we measure their awareness.” This is less risky than running tests out in natural environments, such as busy streets.
Software is used to design environments that constantly change so subjects cannot learn a route through it.
Previous work by Dr Lumsden has shown that people sending a text will miss one in five hazards that are put in their way.
The riskiest tasks involved texting where a lot of visual interaction was needed, she explained. The lab will be used to test alternative mobile phone technologies to make things safer.
One approach was to “try to shift away from dominance on visual feedback”, said Dr Lumsden. The new technology could include voice interaction and motion detection technology.
Glasses that double as an information screen are available but have not been popular, Dr Lumsden explained.
The laboratory is being opened to the public as part of the British Science Festival this week.