Strangely Brown wrote:"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves,"
but we all know that a human can do two things - just with deterioration in each task - think of a pedestrian texting on their mobile while walking - they are still walking / they are still texting, so they are doing two things (multitasking), but in reality their route might wander more / be less deliberate; equally their texting may have more inaccuracies / be completed slower than if the pedestrian stands and texts...
so the debate is surely around degradation - not whether both can be done together?
i.e. does the conversation mean that the level of degradation takes quality of driving below what is acceptable, and that is very difficult to quantify, it must depend on the starting point (driver's ability) and how much the conversation removes concentration from the driving...
one thing that is noticeable is that if you add in distractions (such as a conversation) you are less likely to remember where you drove - does that mean that your driving was of a lower quality - or does it mean that the brain carried on with the driving at a more sub-conscious level and your 'memory of the drive' functionality was degraded - which ultimately doesn't matter? If therefore there is a higher level of ability grooved into the sub-conscious, then surely the multitasking is more possible?
Alasdair