The impact of secondary task cognitive processing demand on driving performance

Crash causation research has identified inattention as a major source of driver error leading to crashes. The series of experiments presented herein investigate the characteristics of an in-vehicle information system (IVIS) task that could hinder driving performance due to uncertainty buildup and co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Accident analysis and prevention 2006-09, Vol.38 (5), p.895-906
Main Authors: Blanco, Myra, Biever, Wayne J., Gallagher, John P., Dingus, Thomas A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Auditory display
Auditory Perception
Automobile Driving
Cognition
Cognitive capture
Data Display
Decision Making
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Passenger vehicle
Task Performance and Analysis
Tractor-trailer
Uncertainty buildup
Visual display
Visual Perception
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Summary:Crash causation research has identified inattention as a major source of driver error leading to crashes. The series of experiments presented herein investigate the characteristics of an in-vehicle information system (IVIS) task that could hinder driving performance due to uncertainty buildup and cognitive capture. Three on-road studies were performed that used instrumented passenger and tractor-trailer vehicles to obtain real-world driving performance data. Participants included young, middle-aged, and older passenger vehicle drivers and middle-aged and older commercial vehicle operators. While driving, they were presented with IVIS tasks with various information densities, decision-making elements, presentation formats, and presentation modalities (visual or auditory). The experiments showed that, for both presentation modalities, the presence of multiple decision-making elements in a task had a substantial negative impact on driving performance of both automobile drivers and truck drivers when compared to conventional tasks or tasks with only one decision-making element. The results from these experiments can be used to improve IVIS designs, allowing for potential IVIS task phenomena such as uncertainty buildup and cognitive capture to be avoided.
ISSN:0001-4575
1879-2057
DOI:10.1016/j.aap.2006.02.015