Young drivers ages 18-29 are so used to "constant stimulation" that music is a "must" for them while driving, new research from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Music Science Lab indicates.
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The study, published in the journal Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain, revealed the results of a study conducted among 140 young adults about how they engage with music while behind the wheel.
Most of the respondents (80%) claimed it was not only "difficult," but sometimes "near impossible" to concentrate on traffic and road conditions without music playing.
Almost all drivers (97%), report listening to many short songs on long trips, and 65% played "fast-paced" music while driving to work. More than two-thirds (76%) play more "liberating" dance songs when on vacation or a holiday outing, 90% play "upbeat" dance music on the way to a party.
"These young drivers believe that more stimulus actually helps their driving abilities," Brodsky says. "This could become more of an issue in the future, when it becomes critical to disengage from music and assume control in an autonomous vehicle," noted music lab director Professor Warren Brodsky.
