Inhibited head movements: A risk of combining phoning with other activities

Oommen BS, Stahl JS.

Neurology. Jul 6 2005

[Epub ahead of print]

Abstract-- Studies of cellular phone use while driving have attributed impaired performance to the distractions of conversation. We determined that holding an inactive phone to the ear reduces the probability of eccentric head positions, potentially indicating reduced ability to monitor the visual surround.

This effect may constitute a risk of cellular phone use independent of conversation and peculiar to handheld models.