Perception and cognition during walking while concurrently using a cellular phone

This research investigated the effect of cellular phone (cell) use during walking on an individual's ability to visually perceive and gather detail about objects in their environment. Volunteers navigated a walking course in an office building where they encountered salient "out of place" objects (such as a cluster of balloons, various children's toys, cooking utensils, etc.). Each subject walked the course while exposed to three treatment conditions: no cell, cell with easy cognitive task (answering simple questions), and cell with hard cognitive task (verbally working through brain teasers). After each pass through the course, subjects completed a survey addressing what they visually perceived. The order of the conditions was counterbalanced and different objects were presented in each condition. The results indicate cell phone use significantly affects the ability to both detect objects and gather details about those objects.