The psychological benefits of driving
Porsche GB
Professor Lynne Pearce, professor of literary and cultural theory at Lancaster University, has spent years researching what we think about when we drive.
In a short video for Porsche she explains: “When I first started my research on driving and told people that I'm working on what we think about when we drive many of them were incredulous, because for them driving is all about concentrating, and having your eyes on the road and not thinking about other things. But my research has proven that that's not the case. And in fact, we think about many different things when we're driving, and indeed the different types of driving inspire different types of thinking.
“Since the early days of motoring psychologists have been very interested in the fact that driving, as well as being a very complex everyday skill is actually a practice which frees up other parts of the brain. The brain central executive works in such a way that if something happens on the road which requires our attention it quickly switches our focus back onto the road. This is what allows us to think about other things, to daydream or have a conversation in reasonable safety.
“We can connect with the world through the windscreen and think creatively. In the contemporary world where nobody has much time to think anymore the car remains a sanctuary. Through my research and personal experience I've come to appreciate that driving is surprisingly important for our psychological well being.”
At Detour we couldn’t agree more.