Scared of Spiders? Don't Talk About Them While Driving | Driver Distraction & Arachnophobia | LiveScience
Emotionally charged conversations may be the most distracting to drivers, and for those who fear arachnids, talk of spiders may lead to crashes.
CREDIT: © Thomas Voss | Dreamstime.com
Not all cellphone conversations create the same amount of distraction for drivers. Recent research found talking about spiders turned spider-phobic people into more error-prone, less-aware drivers.
Questions such as "Are you able to remove a spider from a room if required?" and "Are you able to imagine the feelings of having a spider near or on you?" coming through a hands-free mobile phone distracted arachnophobic drivers markedly more than nonphobic drivers having the same conversation. [Top 10 Phobias]
The researchers chose spiders as a topic of conversation to see if more emotionally charged discussions impaired driving ability more than mundane ones. [...]
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You can follow LiveScience writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
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