Standardized Field Sobriety Test Practice 2026 – Complete Exam Prep Guide

Divided attention refers to the ability to process multiple sources of information or engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. Alcohol consumption is known to significantly impair this type of attention. When individuals consume alcohol, their cognitive functioning becomes compromised, leading to difficulties in managing various tasks at once, such as driving while listening to the radio or talking with passengers.

This impairment can be critical in scenarios like driving under the influence, where the ability to monitor the surroundings while also processing information such as navigation cues is vital for safety. Alcohol affects the central nervous system, which diminishes coordination and cognitive flexibility, resulting in the inability to effectively divide attention between different tasks or stimuli.

The other types of attention, although they can also be affected, do not fully capture the specific nature of the deficits observed with alcohol consumption as divided attention does. For instance, spatial attention focuses on information in a particular area, selective attention involves focusing on a specific stimuli while ignoring others, and focused attention refers to concentrating on a single task or stimulus. While alcohol can impact these attentional processes, the greatest and most noticeable impairment tends to occur with divided attention.