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A steady increase in the use of personal electronic devices, such as cell

phones, whilst driving has become a major concern over recent years

(McEvoy, et al., 2005). Laboratory studies investigating the consequences ofthis reveal a direct correlation with driver inattention and crash or near-crash

incidents (Klauer, Dingus, Neale, Sudweeks, and Ramsey, 2006).

This phenomenon, whereby one is unable to perceive thingsthat are in plain sight, is known as inattentional blindness

(Goldstein, 2002).

The current study aims to assess whether these findings can be replicated in

real life situations. Using a salient stimulus (a unicycling clown), it was

investigated whether inattentional blindness occurs whilst performing a task

as simple as walking and talking on a cell phone.

Would participants notice the clown?

Introduction Method

In this quasi experiment, 151 university students , 67 males (44.4%) and 84

females (55.6%), were observed whilst walking through a common area of

the campus.The independent variable (walking condition), has four levels:

O Walking while using a cell phone O

O Walking alone O

O Walking while listening to music O

O Walking in pairs O

Results from the current study show that 75% of the cell-phoneusers did not notice the clown, indicating that inattentional

blindness occurs at a significantly higher rate in this condition

than in the others.

As demands on working memory increase with cell phone conversations, attention tosensory input decreases (Garcia, Perchet, Perrin, and Amenedo, 2001). This can result

in a 50% drop in processing of visual information (Strayer and Johnston, 2001),

suggesting that inattentional blindness is prevalent in both hands-free and handheld

phone conversations.

Further studies would be needed to determine the extent to which the unique stimulus

used can indeed be generalised to the more expected stimuli one encounters when

driving. The study also fails to account for possible confounds, such as familiar

environments reducing attention. Despite this, the results are important for adding

impetus to laws which could seek to ban cell phone use in any form whilst controlling a

vehicle, and provide the opportunity for future research to examine whether these

findings are applicable to the use of other personal electronic devices, such as GPS.

Results Conclusion

Can you See the Unicycling ClownCan you See the Unicycling Clown100135257, 100135257,100135257, 10013525

The dependent variable is the number of participantswho noticed the unicycling clown

Percentage of participants that noticedThe unicycling clown (N = 151)