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■美國研究顯示，聽別人講電話會令自己分心，無法集中精神工作。資料圖片
你有否試過因聽到別人手機的對話而煩惱？美國研究員相信他們已找到答案。
康奈爾大學的科學家說，無論在辦公室、火車或汽車裡，聽到手機一方的談話較聽到兩人交談更消耗注意力和集中力。
有關研究將在《心理科學》期刊發表，研究負責人之一的埃伯松說：「相對於完整的對話內容，我們較難轉移對『半話』的注意力，因此『半話』較易令人分心。」
聯合國國際電訊聯盟的資料顯示，全球共有46億個手機用戶，相當於全球人口的2/3，世界上沒有太多角落能避開手機用戶的不停交談。美國中央情報局的數據顯示，中國是擁有最多手機用戶的國家，共有6.34億個手機用戶。印度和美國排名第2和第3，分別有5.45億人和2.7億人。
埃伯松表示，人們嘗試拼湊零星的對話片段，猜測對話者下一步說甚麼。她說：「當你只聽見一半的對話內容，得到的資訊較少，自然無法預測下一步的內容，便需要更多注意力。」
她和另一名研究員戈爾斯坦針對41名大學生進行研究，他們一邊進行追蹤移動點的專注力測驗，一邊聆聽一方或雙方講手機。研究顯示，學生聽通話一方說話時所犯的練習錯誤，比聽完整對話更多。
研究亦發現，聽到手機通話會影響人們對日常事務的注意力，包括駕車，因為乘客講手機可能削弱司機的注意力。 ■路透社 ■羅國偉 資深翻譯員
Annoyed by Cellphones? Scientists Explain Why
Ever wonder why overhearing a cellphone conversation is so annoying? American researchers think they have found the answer.
Whether it is at the office, on a train or in a car, only half of the conversation is overheard which drains more attention and concentration than when overhearing two people talking, according to scientists at Cornell University.
"We have less control to move away our attention from half a conversation(or halfalogue)than when listening to a dialogue," said Lauren Emberson, a co-author of the study that will be published in the journal Psychological Science.
Worldwide, there are about 4.6 billion cellphone subscribers, according to the International Telecommunications Union, a U.N. agency. The number is equal to about two-thirds of the world's population, leaving few corners of the globe where public spaces are free of mobile-tethered babblers. China has the most cellphone users with 634 million, followed by India with 545 million and the U.S with 270 million, figures from the U.S Central Intelligence Agency show.
Emberson said people try to make sense of snippets of conversation and predict what speakers will say next. "When you hear half of a conversation, you get less information and you can't predict as well," she said. "It requires more attention."
The findings by Emberson and her co-author Michael Goldstein are based on research involving 41 college students who did concentration exercises, like tracking moving dots, while hearing one or both parties during a cellphone conversation. The students made more errors when they heard one speaker's side of the conversation than when overheard the entire dialogue.
The study shows that overhearing a cellphone conversation affects the attention we use in our daily tasks, including driving, Emberson said. "These results suggest that a driver's attention can be impaired by a passenger's cell phone conversation," according to the study. ■Reuters
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