scholarly journals Mobile Phone Use during Gait: The Role of Perceived Prioritization and Executive Control

Author(s):  
Tal Krasovsky ◽  
Joel Lanir ◽  
Yasmin Felberbaum ◽  
Rachel Kizony

(1) Background: Mobile phone use during gait is associated with adverse health outcomes, namely increased risk of pedestrian injury. Healthy individuals can voluntarily prioritize concurrent task performance, but the factors underlying the impact of phone use during walking remain largely unknown. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between subjective (perceived) prioritization, cognitive flexibility and dual-task performance when using a mobile phone during walking. (2) Methods: Thirty young participants walked for one minute with and without reading or texting on a mobile phone, as well as reading or texting while sitting. Walking performance (kinematics) was recorded, as well as phone use (text comprehension, text read/written), mental workload, perceived prioritization (visual analog scale), and cognitive flexibility (trail-making test). (3) Results: Texting while walking was associated with larger decreases in gait speed, larger gait variability, higher mental workload, and lower text comprehension compared to reading. Perceived prioritization was associated with walking dual-task costs (DTCs) (r = 0.39–0.42, p < 0.04) when texting, and better cognitive flexibility was associated with lower gait DTCs when texting (r = 0.55, p = 0.002) but not reading. (4) Conclusions: The context-dependent link between perceived prioritization, cognitive flexibility, and walking DTCs promotes our understanding of the factors underlying texting-while-walking performance. This could identify individuals who are more prone to dual-task interference in this increasingly common and dangerous task.

Author(s):  
Laura Broeker ◽  
Harald Ewolds ◽  
Rita F. de Oliveira ◽  
Stefan Künzell ◽  
Markus Raab

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the impact of predictability on dual-task performance by systematically manipulating predictability in either one of two tasks, as well as between tasks. According to capacity-sharing accounts of multitasking, assuming a general pool of resources two tasks can draw upon, predictability should reduce the need for resources and allow more resources to be used by the other task. However, it is currently not well understood what drives resource-allocation policy in dual tasks and which resource allocation policies participants pursue. We used a continuous tracking task together with an audiomotor task and manipulated advance visual information about the tracking path in the first experiment and a sound sequence in the second experiments (2a/b). Results show that performance predominantly improved in the predictable task but not in the unpredictable task, suggesting that participants did not invest more resources into the unpredictable task. One possible explanation was that the re-investment of resources into another task requires some relationship between the tasks. Therefore, in the third experiment, we covaried the two tasks by having sounds 250 ms before turning points in the tracking curve. This enabled participants to improve performance in both tasks, suggesting that resources were shared better between tasks.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41.e1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Vrijheid ◽  
Lesley Richardson ◽  
Bruce K. Armstrong ◽  
Anssi Auvinen ◽  
Gabriele Berg ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 176-181
Author(s):  
S.G. Berntsson ◽  

The incidence of adult primary brain tumors is increasing in some European countries. High-dose ionizing irradiation, rare genetic syndromes, and genetic predisposition in 5 % of families are a few established environmental risk factors for brain tumor. Mobile phone use that causes near brain exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic waves and thus creates risks of CNS tumors has been the focus of many studies. Nine meta-analyses were available on this subject. The Interphone multi-center case-control study is the largest one to date; it included 2.708 glioma and 2.409 meningioma cases and matched controls in 13 countries. Studies exploring metals (cadmium, lead), pesticides, outdoor pollution, virus, and risk of glioma created by exposure to them were reviewed. Interphone study did not show increased risk of glioma or meningioma in mobile-phone users. One recent meta-analysis in 2017 found that prolonged exposure i.e.,> 10 years of all phone types was associated with increased risk of ipsilateral CNS tumor locations. In another meta-analysis, long-term use of mobile-phones was found to be a risk factor for low-grade glioma. In case of all durations regarding mobile phone use and both sides of the head, the results of pooling data were more discordant. A large prospective study in 2014 showed that long term use vs never use increased risks of acoustic neurinoma (10+ years: RR = 2.46, 95 % CI = 1.07–5.64, P = 0.03), but not of glioma or meningioma. Studies of other risk factors showed no/weak/contradictory association with brain tumor risk. In the absence of robust and consistent evidence, a causal relation between radiofrequency exposure and CNS tumors was not found. Large prospective studies of this kind regarding a disease with low incidence require a high number of participants and a long follow-up period.


Author(s):  
Jianwei Niu ◽  
Yulin Zhou ◽  
Dan Wang ◽  
Xingguo Liu

The use of mobile phones while driving has been a hot topic in the field of driving safety for decades. Although there are few studies on the influence of gesture control on in-vehicle secondary tasks, this study aims to investigate the impact of gesture-based mobile phone use without touching while driving from the perspective of multiple-resource workload owing to visual, auditory, cognitive, and psychomotor resource occupation. A novel gesture control technique was adopted for secondary task interactions, to recognize the gestures of drivers. An experiment was conducted to study the influences of two interaction modes, traditional touch-based mobile phone interaction and gesture-based mobile phone interaction, on driving behavior in three different cognitive level task groups. The results indicate that gesture-based mobile phone interaction can improve driving performance with regard to lateral position-keeping ability and steering wheel control; nevertheless, it has no significant impact on longitudinal metrics such as driving speed, driving speed variation, and throttle control variation. Gesture-based mobile phone interactions have a larger effect on secondary tasks with medium cognitive load but not on actual operation tasks. It was also verified that the performance of gesture-based mobile phone interaction was better in secondary mobile phone tasks such as switching (e.g., switching songs) and adjusting (e.g., adjusting volume) than the traditional interaction mode. This study provides the theoretical and experimental support for human–computer interaction using gesture-based mobile phone interactive control in future automobiles.


Author(s):  
Zoi Tsimtsiou ◽  
Anna-Bettina Haidich ◽  
Anastasios Drontsos ◽  
Fotini Dantsi ◽  
Zafiria Sekeri ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose This study investigated the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) and cyberbullying and examined profiles of adolescents with increased risk to develop pathological behaviors. Methods In this cross-sectional, school-based study, 8053 students of 30 middle and 21 high schools (12–18 years old) were invited to participate, based on a multistage stratified random sampling technique. The Internet aiddiction test (IAT) was used along with information on socio-demographics, Internet activities and cyberbullying experience. Results Five thousand five hundred and ninety students participated (response rate 69.4%). Pathological Internet use (IAT ≥50) was found in 526 (10.1%), while 403 (7.3%) experienced cyberbullying as victims and 367 (6.6%) as perpetrators during the last year. In multivariable models, the odds of IA increased with online hours on mobile phones and Internet use during weekends, Internet café visits, chatrooms usage and engagement in cyberbullying. Cyberbullying victims were more likely to be older, female, Facebook and chatrooms users, while perpetrators were more likely to be male, older Internet users and fans of pornographic sites. A perpetrator was significantly more likely to have also been a victim [odds ratio (OR) = 5.51, confidence interval (CI): 3.92–7.74]. Hours of daily Internet use on a mobile phone was independently associated with IA and cyberbullying (OR) 1.41, 95% CI 1.30, 1.53 and OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.01, 1.21, respectively. Conclusions Cyberbullying is associated with IA and the hours spent online on a mobile phone affected both conditions. The increasing Internet access through mobile phones or other devices should be accompanied by the appropriate education of both parents and adolescents on safe Internet use.


2020 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-74
Author(s):  
Daria Fedorchenko ◽  
Vyacheslav Didkovsky

Background: The main purpose of study was to assess the impact of using mobile phones among young Ukrainians (age 17-25) on auditory system. We conducted a study using anonymous questionnaires and with using a method of objective audiometry (otoacoustic emission). Finally, we compared our results with results of studies which were conducted in Sweden and Finland. Those studies were first among all the others with assessment of association between amount of mobile phone use and frequency of headache, tinnitus or hearing loss at 4-year follow-up. Methods: The participants were chosen among volunteers (n=251). All of them received anonymous questionnaires. We made stratified sample by age, sex, type of phone used, duration of phone calls, using of headphones during calls, symptoms appearing after using cell phone (headache, tinnitus, hearing loss). Results: The age of respondents was 17-25 years (32,3% - 22 years, 13,1% - 19 years, 12,4% - 20 years, 10,8% - 23 years., 8,4% - 21 years., 8% - 18 years, 7,6% - 17 years, 2,8% - 24р., 2,8% - 25 years). Due to this data the median age of participants was 22 years. Sex: female – 74.3%, male – 25.7%. Most of participants were using mobile phones (99.2%). 51.8% of respondents were always using headphones during phone calls, 8.8% - never used headphones during phone calls, 39,4% - were rarely using headphones during phone calls.  We assess the association between mobile phone use and appearing symptoms after phone calls. 3.6% of respondents reported a headache after phone calls, 96.4% were free of this symptom after phone calls. 58.2% reported headache at least once a week, 41.8% - were free of this symptom. 42.2% of respondents reported tinnitus: 1.6% reported tinnitus every day, 4.8% once in 2-3 days, 35.9% reported this symptom rarely (less than once a week). 57.8% of respondents were free of tinnitus. 21.5% of respondents reported hearing loss, 78.5% were free of hearing loss. Most of respondents associate headache with fatigue, sleep deprivation, stress, weather change, sleep disorders, arterial hypertension, hunger, frequent phone calls. Respondents who complained of hearing loss were offered to pass objective audiometry (optoacoustic emission).6 respondents took part in this examination. In 85 ears of respondents (71%) who complained of hearing loss it occurs on 8000 Hz. In 95 ears of respondents (79%) who complained of hearing loss it occurs on 5714 Hz. Pearson correlation coefficient between our results and results of Northern Europe studies was 0.935, suggesting a strong linear association.


Author(s):  
Aleksandar Gavrić ◽  
Saša Džigerović ◽  
Belmin Avdić ◽  
Goran Bošnjak ◽  
Suzana Miladić-Tešić

Mobile phone use at pedestrian crossings has been recognized as a growing problem in the field of traffic safety. The objective of the paper is to analyze the impact of mobile phone use at pedestrian crossings considering specific territory. Signalized and unsignalized intersections are observed in the study. Several factors having the impact on unsafe pedestrian crossing behaviour are identified such as: age, location and the type of mobile phone using. The model of unsafe pedestrian behaviour based on displayed mobile phone use while crossing the intersection is constructed. It has been shown in this research that talking and texting on mobile phone distract pedestrians. Listening to music does not affect pedestrians to behave unsafely because it requires less cognitive activity than talking or texting. Also, location affects the pedestrian crossing behavior. The results of this research can serve the purpose of preventing the mobile phones use and reduce the negative impact on pedestrian crossing behavior.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1813-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaheera Saadia

BACKGROUND: The fetal heart rate (FHR) is a good marker of fetal well-being during labour. Cardiotocography is used to record the FHR and uterine contractions and can detect possible fetal hypoxia. Mobile phones use, and obesity is suggested to influence the FHR and cardiovascular development. AIM: The present study aimed to study the differences in FHR pattern between fetuses of obese vs non-obese groups when using a mobile phone. METHODS: We conducted a clinical trial to test the impact of mobile phone use on FHR using a single mobile phone with Specific Absorption Rate rating of 0.99 W/kg for 10 minutes. Data from this clinical trial were analysed to compare the FHR pattern between fetuses of obese women (exposed group) vs those of non-obese women (control group). The two study groups (obese vs non-obese) were compared regarding four FHR patterns: baseline FHR, variability, acceleration and deceleration scores. Data were analysed by SPSS software version 23.0 using the independent-samples t-tests. RESULTS: Sixty-nine women were included in the final analysis (obese group: n = 22 and non-obese group: n = 47). Fetuses of the obese women had significantly higher baseline FHR and less FHR variability scores when compared with fetuses of the non-obese women (mean difference 2.9 and 3.18, respectively). CONCLUSION: Fetuses of obese women had abnormal FHR pattern compared with fetuses of non-obese women. The use of mobile phone slightly influenced the FHR variability score. These results highlight the importance of proper management of obesity in women within the childbearing period.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Romeas ◽  
Romain Chaumillon ◽  
David Labbé ◽  
Jocelyn Faubert

AbstractThe present study introduces a virtual life-sized perceptual-cognitive paradigm combining three dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) with motor (Experiment 1) or perceptual (Experiment 2) decision-making tasks. The objectives were to assess the impact of training on task performance and to determine the best training conditions for improvement and learning.Seventy-one participants were randomly trained under one of four training conditions (isolated 3D-MOT task, 3D-MOT simultaneously combined with a decision-making task, consolidated 3D-MOT and decision-making task, isolated decision-making task). Task performance was evaluated using speed thresholds, decision accuracy (%) and reaction time (s).Findings showed that the dual-task paradigm allowed satisfactory degrees of performance on both tasks despite an important dual-task cost. Interestingly, the results seemed to favor consolidated over simultaneous training for dual-task performance when 3D-MOT was combined with a motor task. The amount of attentional shared resources in regards to the nature of the additional task was discussed.


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