On working memory and a productivity illusion in distracted driving.

Strayer, David L.; Coleman, JR · 2016 · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2016.06.008

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Summary

This study investigates the "productivity illusion" associated with distracted driving, addressing the discrepancy between drivers' claims that multitasking enhances productivity and empirical evidence suggesting it impairs cognitive performance. The authors hypothesize that divided attention during driving forces individuals to rely on reconstructive, error-prone memory processes rather than accurate rote reproduction, thereby diminishing actual productivity while inflating subjective perceptions of competence. This phenomenon is linked to reduced working memory capacity and cognitive control, which limits the ability to monitor performance deficits. To test this hypothesis, the researchers employed a within-subject experimental design using a high-fidelity driving simulator. Twenty-three participants completed three conditions: single-task driving, single-task memory encoding and retrieval, and a dual-task condition combining both. The memory task utilized the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false memory paradigm, where participants listened to lists of semantically related words and later attempted to recall them. This paradigm distinguishes between accurate recall of presented items and false recall of non-presented "lure" words. Driving performance was measured by brake reaction time and following distance. The results demonstrated bidirectional interference, where divided attention impaired both driving and memory performance. In the dual-task condition, participants exhibited significantly slower brake reaction times (1130 ms) compared to the single-task condition (1020 ms). Memory performance showed a dissociation: accurate recall of studied items decreased significantly in the dual-task condition (.30) compared to single-task (.36), while false recall of lure words remained statistically stable, though numerically higher. Crucially, the "reconstructive memory quotient" (the ratio of false recall to accurate recall) increased significantly under dual-task conditions. This indicates that participants became increasingly reliant on reconstructive, gist-based memory processes when attention was divided, rather than maintaining accurate episodic details. The study concludes that the belief that multitasking while driving increases productivity is an illusion. Divided attention compromises working memory and cognitive control, leading to poorer driving safety and a shift toward error-prone reconstructive memory. Because individuals with lower cognitive control are less likely to notice their own performance deficits, they may overestimate their ability to multitask effectively. These findings highlight the value of applied cognitive neuroscience in understanding how laboratory-based theories of working memory generalize to real-world settings, suggesting that multitasking diminishes, rather than enhances, the quality of cognitive performance.

Key finding

Divided attention during distracted driving impairs both driving performance and accurate memory recall while increasing reliance on reconstructive memory processes, thereby creating a productivity illusion where individuals believe they are multitasking effectively despite objective performance decrements.

Methodology

simulator

Sample size: 23

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• cognitive
• cognitive capacity variation
• mind wandering
• dual task performance
• auditory
• prospective memory interruptions

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data, observational prevalence
• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model