text: The act of conversation itself also creates a distraction. While focusing on the road requires a certain amount of cognitive processing, the complexity of conversations also engages cognitive resources. MRIs indicate that during driving, people exhibit extensive stimulation in the parietal lobe of the brain mainly associated with spatial processing. However, when performing dual tasks, such as having a conversation, activity in the temporal lobes rises significantly signifying processing of auditory stimuli (Fitch et al. 712). The rise in temporal lobe activity corresponds to a large reduction in parietal-lobe activation which indicates that conversations require more attention which is diverted away from the driving task. If a driver chooses to prioritize a conversation, then it reduces their focus on the road, thereby increasing the likelihood of a crash. While some may argue that the use of hands-free devices reduces the risk of a crash, research provides contradictory results. A study on the cognitive effects of talking on cellphones concluded that while participants often crashed while chatting, drunk drivers had reduced likelihood of a crash (Lipovac et al. 136).