Effect of Mobile Use on Reaction Time

The use of cellular phones has skyrocketed in recent years, with more than 118 million subscribers in the United States as of July 1, 2001. Recent estimates suggest that cell phone users spend 60% of their cell phone time while driving. Reaction time is one of the important methods used to study a person's central information processing speed and fast coordinated peripheral movement response. The purpose of this study was to compare the reaction time without mobile use and with mobile use. It can be concluded that the reaction time is a prolonged with mobile use. The results of the study that has been described carry two significant implications for use of cellular phones. First, all users of cellular phones should be advised not to engage in intense phone conversations while the vehicle is moving. Businesses whose employees regularly carry on transactions by means of cellular phones might advise, or even direct that protracted dealings over the phone be avoided while the vehicle is underway. Background and Purpose: The use of cellular phones has skyrocketed in recent years, with more than 118 million subscribers in the United States as of July 1, 2001 [1]. This increase has been accompanied by an increase in the number of individuals concurrently driving and talking on the cell phone. Recent estimates suggest that cell phone users spend 60% of their cell phone time while driving [2]. Unfortunately, due to the inherent limited capacity of human attention, engaging in these multi-tasking activities often comes at a cost of diverting attention away from the primary task of driving [3]. The concurrent performance of a secondary task that is unrelated to the primary task of driving can be considered a distraction. Convergent findings suggest that when drivers converse on a cell phone they are more likely to be involved in an accident [4-6] and generally show a different driving profile than non-distracted drivers [5,7-8]. A number of reports have found that when conversing on a cell phone drivers adopt increased time headways to traffic and reduce speed [7-9] although this finding is not universal [10]. Furthermore, epidemiological studies suggest that drivers on the cell phone are up to four times more likely to be involved in an accident [4,6]. It may also be the case that a person’s emotional state may simultaneously increase the likelihood of using a cell phone and driving erratically [11]. Reaction time is one of the important methods used to study a person's central information processing speed and fast coordinated peripheral movement response. Reaction Time is independent of social-cultural influences and can purely indicate the efficiency or dysfunction of biological process in brain. For any response to occur the stimulus initially activates the sense organs and the impulse is then conducted to the brain and from the brain is sent back to execute the movement required to accomplish the task. Slowed performance is usually accompanied by prolonged simple Reaction Time [12-13]. The purpose of this study was to compare the reaction time without mobile use and with mobile use. Al Ameen J Med Sc; Volume 3, No.2, 2010 Shah C et al © 2010. Al Ameen Charitable Fund Trust, Bangalore 161 Objectives of the study 1. To find out the auditory and visual time in healthy controls 2. To find out sex wise and stimulus wise difference in ART and VRT 3. To compare the auditory and visual reaction time of controls with and without concurrent mobile use 4. To find out any difference and if present, it’s statistical significance and to analyze the reason for the observed facts. Materials and methods The study was carried out in the Department of Physiology, Govt. Medical College, and Bhavnagar. The present study included 73 subjects aged 17-19 Healthy individual were used in this study. The subjects included in the study were nonalcoholics, non-smokers having normal vision. They were not having any pathology or injury to the upper limb. The subjects were informed about the nature of the study and a written consent was obtained. The present study was conducted on 'Audiovisual reaction time apparatus RTM 608' by Medicaid systems. The instrument has a resolution of 0.001 sec and accuracy of +1 digit. It has two modes of providing stimulusaudio stimulus (continuous sound on speaker) and visual stimulus (shooting red, yellow and green lights). The reaction time was recorded for auditory low and high frequency sound stimuli and visual reaction time for red, green and yellow light stimuli. As soon as the stimuli was perceived by the subject, he responded by pressing the response switch by the index finger of the dominant hand. The display indicated the response time in seconds. They were given 10 trials and after repeated practice, three readings for each parameter were noted. The average of three readings was taken as the value for reaction time task and was noted in the subject's record profile. The dual-task condition involved conversing on a cell phone with a research assistant. The participant and the research assistant discussed topics that were being of interest to the participant.