Harry PotterB次元官网网址檚 power appears to extend beyond the page, as recent Canadian research suggests listening to an audiobook from the popular fiction series can improve focus on long and boring drives.

Lana Trick, a psychology professor at the University of Guelph, wanted to look into areas that could help improve driving performance, given that 40 per cent of collisions can be attributed to in-car distraction, she said.

While much of scientific research has focused on the deleterious effects of distracted driving, she sought to look into B次元官网网址済ood distractions.B次元官网网址�

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The problem with driving, she explained, is the load the brain carries. Too little stimulation B次元官网网址� dubbed mental underload B次元官网网址� can be just as bad as the opposite, or mental overload.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like nature abhors a vacuum,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚f you have an empty brain, you can doze off or your mind wanders or you find another way to distract yourself, like grabbing your cell phone.B次元官网网址�

The key, she said, is to find the sweet spot between the two for the brain B次元官网网址� thatB次元官网网址檚 where audiobooks come in.

B次元官网网址淎udiobooks can be cases where a little bit of distraction can be useful,B次元官网网址� she said.

For the project, TrickB次元官网网址檚 team wanted an audiobook that featured an interesting, relatively popular story, and the novel featuring the boy wizard and his friends fit the bill.

B次元官网网址淗arry Potter is engaging and exciting,B次元官网网址� Trick said, B次元官网网址渂ut also something you can have in the background and not too complex.B次元官网网址�

Her research, recently published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, showed drivers who participated in her study had better B次元官网网址渉azardous response timesB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� braking faster in response to hazards B次元官网网址� while listening to B次元官网网址淗arry Potter and the Deathly HallowsB次元官网网址� compared to those who drove in silence.

Trick recruited undergraduate students at the University of Guelph as test subjects who used a driving simulator at a specialized laboratory. The DRiVE Lab B次元官网网址� named for Driving Research in Virtual Environments B次元官网网址� is a state-of-the-art facility where researchers can test various scenarios without the risks of driving on a road, Trick said.

The lab has a car B次元官网网址� a convertible Pontiac B次元官网网址� that is surrounded by screens. Sounds of driving and B次元官网网址渇orce feedbackB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� such as the vibrations of a moving car B次元官网网址� add to the feel of driving, Trick said. For her study, participants drove both complex and simple routes while listening to parts of the Harry Potter audiobook or driving in silence.

The researchers first scored students on their working memory. Those who had strong working memories, as in those who could hold a number of ideas at once, saw a particularly strong benefit to listening to an audiobook while driving long and boring routes, Trick said.

B次元官网网址淭hose drivers that have the highest memory load are the most challenged by dull, simple drives and an audiobook seemed to help them,B次元官网网址� she said.

The audiobook did, however, have a slightly negative effect on drivers with poor working memory on particularly complex drives. The research shows the audiobook had no effect on driversB次元官网网址� speeds.

B次元官网网址淲hat this means is that it could help when youB次元官网网址檙e driving along the boring 401 with no change of scenery for miles and miles and miles,B次元官网网址� she said.

One other notable finding, Trick said, came with whatB次元官网网址檚 known as B次元官网网址渟tandard deviation of lateral position,B次元官网网址� which means how much a car moves from side to side in a lane. At times, those who listened to the audiobook showed more variance in their lanes, she said.

B次元官网网址淲hen people are excited they tend to shift around a little bit more,B次元官网网址� Trick said. B次元官网网址淲e were going through an especially exciting period of Harry Potter and it was possible they were getting into it.B次元官网网址�

Trick said she hopes to test other drivers, especially those who have experience commuting, to expand her research. She said she is also studying the effects of audiobooks on different aspects of road complexity.

B次元官网网址淲hat weB次元官网网址檙e trying to do is find ways to reduce the number of collisions on the road, especially those from distracted driving, which has become a major problem.B次元官网网址�

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press