1.     According to Prompt 5, texting while driving reduces driving ability by 23x. In order to explain this using Baddeley’s model of working memory, I will attempt to explain the underlying components. Working memory consists of the Central Executive, which has two modes of control.

The first mode  is automatic, or semi-autoamatic,  and based on existing habits. An example would be driving a car. Once you have mastered the skill, you don’t have to exert a lot of thinking to accomplish it.  You just do it. 

The second mode in Executive Control is the supervisory attentional system (SAS). This mode of control is crucial to activate alternate strategies for unforseen events; i.e., the road is closed and you must decide what to do, or,  a car is stopped in the middle of the highway and you must make a quick decision about proper action to take. Slips of action can occur causing the SAS to fail to operate when it should. Cell phone usage while driving  would certainly contribute to the SAS not functioning at the level it should.

There is a phonological loop which temporaily stores speech/sound. It is implicated that the the role of speech/sound is connected to action and the ability to switch attention between two tasks, but further studies are required to prove this.

The visuo-spatial sketchpad allows us to form  mental imagery. The visuo-spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop can and do work together. This can  increase performance in some tasks; it can decrease performance in others. Imagery can interfere with  spatial processing. Baddeley’s model of working memory illustrates this with an example of driving while listening to a football game. The author stated his mind formed such a clear image of the game that his car began weaving lane to lane. In order to rectify this, he switched the radio to music and resumed driving in his own lane. Brain activity for driving safely would definately be decreased by texting, talking on a cell phone, or using a computer.

Lastly, the episodic buffer is the 4th component in Baddeley’s model of working memory. It is still a concept in the early ages of development. The episodic buffer is a proposed storage system, an active binding process of information. It is linked to long-term memory (LTM) and allows chunking of information from all the other components described. It also allows for the influence of emotion on working memory.

2.     I am not convinced by the truckers’ argument to keep their computers on board and activated. The only objection offered by the trucking companies is that to make the computer set-ups illegal would lose time– that is, money. No economic advantage can ever license an increase of risk to human life.  

Mark Schiefelbein for The New York Times

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/technology/28truckers.html

 How safe does this look???????????????????????????????

             Using  a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle should be banned in the United States. In support of this position, the National Safety Council advocates for a legalized ban in all 50 states. It has been proven dangerous, sometimes deadly, to use a mobile phone while driving. Drivers have difficulty maintaining a safe speed limit, keeping a proper distance between their vehicle and other vehicles, and staying in the proper lane. Reaction to dangerous situations is decreased because the driver’s attention is on the conversation and not the road.  A study done in 1997 showed that people talking on cell phones were four times more likely to crash. Another study, conducted in 2003 by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, estimated cell phone usage contributes to at least 6% of car crashes. This study also put the yearly financial total for cell phone related crashes at 43 billion dollars. Safe driving should be the goal of all who get behind the wheel of a car. Based on the evidence of distraction directly from cell phone usage while driving, the United States should ban this practice for the safety of all citizens on the road. 

Resources and related information can be accessed @ these websites:

            http://www.livescience.com/health/060629_cell_phones.html

            http://www.nsc.org/news/cellphone_ban.aspx

            http://www.ergoweb.com/news/detail.cfm?id=1694

            http://www.nsc.org/resources/issues/factsheet.aspx

            http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0806-cell_phone_risk.htm

For quite some time, I kept giving out my old phone number without realizing I was not giving out my current number. This is an example of proactive interference. Old information was blocking new information.

I decided to experiment at home. I brought my two overgrown kids into the kitchen and had them “help” me move the silverware to a different drawer, which they thought was a total waste of time. They are so busy with more important matters. Then, I watched. They still open the old silverware drawer first before they remember the change. Proactive interference - at work again.

1)      The robot is not a good simulation of human memory due to the fact it repeatedly bumps the same empty Pepsi can. The robot also took down a couple of empty Pepsi cans, which is was not supposed to  do. The robot is a decent simulation of the proposed Parable of the Ant, interacting with the environment as it appears. It is an ironic thought to observe the robot repeatedly trying the same can or knocking over the wrong can, akin to some similarity in human bx’s (a person repeatedly making the same mistakes).

2)      This robot doesn’t show semantic or episodic memory. It has no storage for either; it is merely sensing the outer stimuli/environment as it is encountered.

3)      This robot has the specific knowledge of a light sensor and a touch sensor. A light sensor for staying inside of the black tape and touch sensor for distinguishing empty cans from full cans. Of the two, I would say the light sensor worked best.

4)      The robot was inefficient at it’s task. To make it more efficient, a working memory and short-term memory would be beneficial to the task at hand.