1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:08,639 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: In the nineteen thirties, there was a bit of a 3 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: war over radios in cars. All legislators argued that car 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: radios were distracting and hazardous. The Radio Manufacturers Association countered 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: that passengers were more of a driver distraction than a 6 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: car radio. Listening to the radio, they claimed was safer 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 1: than even looking in the rearview mirror. But Illinois, Massachusetts, 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: New York, New Jersey, and Ohio legislatures all considered implementing 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: car radio fines, and in nineteen thirty five, Connecticut legislators 10 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: actually did introduce a bill that would have placed a 11 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: steep fine on radio installation of fifty dollars in nineteen 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: thirty five, which is over a thousand today. Others considered 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: making car radio installation a crime. It wasn't until nineteen 14 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: thirty nine, though, that anyone actually study weather a correlation 15 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: between car radios and car crashes existed. The Princeton Radio 16 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: Research Project determined that car radios played little no role 17 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: in car accidents. Skipping ahead to nineteen ninety nine, the 18 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: Society of Automotive engineers advised drivers to follow the fifteen 19 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: second rule. That is, they said a driver can be 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: distracted by an InCAR activity such as talking to passengers 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: or retrieving an item from the glove compartment four up 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: to fifteen seconds before the task becomes a visual distraction 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: and thus becomes unsafe. But if you're zipping along it's 24 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: say fifty five miles an hour, that's about eighty kilometers 25 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: per hour. Your car travels about the length of a 26 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: football field every five seconds. That's about three hundred and 27 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: sixty feet or one hundred and five meters, so you 28 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: cover three times that in fifteen seconds. Today, both the 29 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the US Department of 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: Transportation recommend that no InCAR activity take more than two 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: seconds less to become a dangerous distraction. At the same time, 32 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: would be surprised if a present day car rolled off 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: the assembly line without at least a radio installed. Most 34 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,679 Speaker 1: new models have sleek digital audio systems. Today, two car 35 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: audio systems are considered to be among the low level distractions, 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: along with eating and drinking that combined are responsible for 37 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: distracting us about a third of the time that we 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: spend behind the wheel. That's not great, but activities like 39 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: texting while driving are even more serious because that distracts 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: you visually, physically, and cognitively all at the same time. 41 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: And further research has found that listening to music may 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: actually help drivers stay focused on the road during certain circumstances, 43 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: like long trips on monotonous highways, although handling a media 44 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: player or touching the audio controls was found to be distracting. 45 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: So why then, do we so often turned down the 46 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: volume of the radio when we really need to concentrate 47 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: on driving, as say, when it comes to look for 48 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 1: an upcoming exit sign during heavy traffic, or when we're 49 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: approaching an unfamiliar destination. It has to do with the 50 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: demands on our ability to concentrate and the limitations of 51 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: the human brain. As it turns out, turning down the 52 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: radio to concentrate isn't strange at all. It's your brain's 53 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 1: natural reaction to the circumstances. The human brain has three parts. First, 54 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: there's a cerebrum, the largest part of the brain and 55 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,119 Speaker 1: the part that controls your higher cognitive functions such as 56 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: language and emotions. Then there's the cerebellum, which controls your 57 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: muscle movements and balance. Finally, there's the brain stem, which 58 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: controls all of the body's automatic functions such as breathing, 59 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: as well as acting as the relay station between the 60 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: spinal cord and the cerebrum and cerebellum. As you go 61 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: through your day, you collect information about your environment through 62 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: your five primary sensory systems taste, hearing, smell, touch, and vision. 63 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: Each sensory system has its own sensory neurons and they 64 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: send reports to your central nervous system that is, your 65 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: spinal cord and brain about changes in your environment. The 66 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: brain combines all of this information and decides how to proceed. 67 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: That process is called encoding. The brain is constantly evaluating 68 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: what its primary task should be, the chief task that 69 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: the brain will focus on, and what its secondary task 70 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: or tasks should be, which are the concurrent tasks that 71 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: get less focus. The brain's ability to switch back and 72 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: forth between tasks is called attention switching, and it comes 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: with a price. When the brain switches its focus and 74 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: attention from one task to another, it's fast, but not instantaneous. 75 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: Those fractions of a second spent toggling may slow down 76 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: your performance, including minor delays in your reaction times, and 77 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: when you're lost, that could mean the difference between seeing 78 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: or seeing the street sign that you need. People often 79 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: turn down the radio when driving in crowded urban areas, 80 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: looking for a specific address, or driving in dangerous conditions 81 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: like torrential rain or during a snowstorm because those activities 82 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: require more concentration than your typical drive. Turning the radio 83 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: down or off eliminates a task from the brains to 84 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: do list, shifting its focus to the most important task, 85 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: finding the way and getting there safely. Research shows that 86 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: at work, eleven percent of us right our to do 87 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: lists during meetings, and more than half of us check 88 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 1: email while we're on a phone call. Many of us 89 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: like to think of ourselves as expert multitaskers, and we 90 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: consider it the norm to perform two or more tasks 91 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: at the same time, or different tasks quickly back to back, 92 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: or to switch rapidly between two tasks. But despite our 93 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: pride in and fondness of multitasking, the brain isn't actually 94 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: built to multitask. Of course, every brain is different, but 95 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: speaking generally, give the brain one task and it's no problem. 96 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: Two tasks and the brain divides and conquers them more 97 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: than two tasks, though, and things change. With divided focus 98 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: and attention, the brain begins to perform less effectively and 99 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: is prone to making more errors. The human brain, it 100 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: turns out, doesn't have infinite resources, and it handles tasks sequentially. 101 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: Yet it's able to switch from task to tasks so 102 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: rapidly that we think we're multitasking. And because we have 103 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: a limited capacity when it comes to focus and attention, 104 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: especially when we're concentrating hard, the brain has to choose 105 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: what information gets processed and encoded. For example, your brain 106 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: can handle either visual driving related tasks like looking for 107 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: an address or rocking out to the radio. When we 108 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: try to multitask, each goal competes for the brains available resources. 109 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: A multitasking creates a traffic jam, and in the end, 110 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 1: we form poorly on each task. As a result, we 111 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: overlook important information, we make errors, and we end up 112 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: remembering less information overall. When the brain is forced to 113 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: switch rapidly from task to task, it doesn't perform as 114 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: well as it does when it can focus on one 115 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: thing at a time. Multitasking increases our error rate by 116 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: as much as fifty percent and it doesn't speed things 117 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: up either. Trying to multitask doubles the amount of time 118 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: that it takes to perform each of the tasks at hand. 119 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: When you introduce a third task, the brain's prefrontal cortex, 120 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: which makes executive decisions, will discard the one it considers 121 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: the least important. It's got to do with the limits 122 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: of our sensory system, we tune out what our brain 123 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: determines to be of lesser importance. When we're lost, or 124 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: when we have to perform a driving task that we 125 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: don't do very often, like parallel parking, we edit our environment. 126 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: We stop listening to passenger conversation, our field of vision shrinks, 127 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: we turn down the radios of volume or turn it off, 128 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: all in an effort to throw our focus into vision 129 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: or spatial relationships, respectively. And that's great. When you're driving, 130 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: all your attention should be focused on the road. In 131 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: other environments, scientists suggest taking control of our focus and 132 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: attention consciously beginning and ending one task at a time. 133 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: This is called set shifting, a practice that's been shown 134 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: to result in fewer errors than multitasking. Other research suggests 135 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: devoting twenty minutes to one goal at a time before 136 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: consciously switching to the next. Today's episode is based on 137 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: the article why do we turn down the radio when 138 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: We're lost? On howtofworks dot com, written by Maria Tree Marquis. 139 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio and partnership withhowstuffworks dot com, 140 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,959 Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler klain A. Four more 141 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heartradio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 142 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.