Cognitive load while driving impairs memory of moving but not stationary elements within the environment.

Blalock, Lisa Durrance; Sawyer, Benjamin D.; Kiken, Ariana; Gutzwiller, Robert S.; McGill, Calvin L.; Clegg, Benjamin A.

doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2014.04.006

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…The previously described phenomenon of inattentional blindness during driving in younger adults (Most and Astur, 2007; Blalock et al, 2014; Murphy and Greene, 2015, 2016, 2017a,b; Ericson et al, 2017) was replicated in the current study and was expanded upon by demonstrating the same phenomenon in older adults. Specifically, participants were unaware of inanimate objects on 56% of all trials and animate objects on 25% of all trials (see Table 4).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…For instance, cognitive load can be increased during driving by the introduction of multitasking requirements (e.g., listening/talking, holding information in memory, navigating; Strayer and Johnston, 2001; Strayer et al, 2003, 2013; Horrey and Wickens, 2006; Blalock et al, 2014; Cuenen et al, 2015; Donmez and Liu, 2015; Ebnali et al, 2016; Svetina, 2016; Murphy and Greene, 2017a; Caird et al, 2018; Wechsler et al, 2018) and perceptual load may be introduced by, for example, environmental clutter (e.g., traffic, buildings, signs, pedestrians; Marciano and Yeshurun, 2012, 2015; Stinchcombe and Gagnon, 2013; Ericson et al, 2017; Michaels et al, 2017), or by increasing perceptual task difficulty (e.g., judging maneuverability around closely arranged obstacles; Murphy and Greene, 2015, 2016). Previous studies with younger drivers have demonstrated more instances of inattentional blindness during conditions of higher compared to lower cognitive and perceptual load (e.g., Most and Astur, 2007; Blalock et al, 2014; Murphy and Greene, 2015, 2016, 2017a,b; Ericson et al, 2017; see Murphy et al, 2016 for a review). For instance, Murphy and Greene (2015, 2016) investigated the effects of perceptual load on inattentional blindness by asking drivers to make perceptual gap judgements about whether their car could fit between a row of parked cars while manipulating perceptual difficulty (i.e., clearly too wide/narrow vs. closely approximating the width of the driver’s vehicle).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inattentional Blindness During Driving in Younger and Older Adults

2019

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Age-related changes to perceptual and cognitive abilities have been implicated in an increased risk of collision in older adults. This may be due, in part, to their reduced ability to attend to potentially relevant aspects of their driving environment. An associated general phenomenon of inattentional blindness involves a failure to notice visually presented objects or events when attention is directed elsewhere. Previous studies of inattentional blindness using computer paradigms report higher incidence of this effect in older compared to younger adults. However, little is known about whether these age-related effects are observed during more complex, realistic, everyday tasks, such as driving. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore whether younger and older adults differ in their awareness of objects in their driving environment when their attention is directed toward another primary driving task. This study took place in a high-fidelity, full field of view, driving simulator. Thirty-two younger ( M age = 25.41) and 32 older ( M age = 73.41) adults drove through 19 short scenarios and were asked to first judge whether their vehicle could fit between two rows of vehicles parked on either side of the road and then to perform the associated driving maneuver (i.e., drive through or drive around). On four critical trials, objects were placed on the side of the road that differed in terms of animacy. Specifically, animate objects consisted of 3D humans standing by a bus shelter and inanimate objects consisted of photographs of the same individuals on a bus shelter advertisement. Inattentional blindness was measured via a post-drive, tablet-based recognition task immediately following the critical trials. Results revealed high rates of inattentional blindness across both age groups, with significantly lower levels of awareness for inanimate objects compared to animate objects. Further, whereas younger adults demonstrated reduced inattentional blindness following the first critical trial, older adults did not show this immediate improvement in recognition performance. Overall, this study provides unique insights into the factors associated with age-related changes to attention and how they may affect important driving-related outcomes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inattentional Blindness During Driving in Younger and Older Adults

2019

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“…cell phone use) while driving negatively impacts memory for landmarks (e.g. Blalock et al, 2014 ). It is possible that the increased cognitive load could influence spatial memory and therefore route navigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing landmark-specific effects on route navigation in an ecologically valid setting: a simulated driving study

et al. 2022

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We used a driving simulator to investigate landmark-based route navigation in young adults. Previous research has examined how proximal and distal landmarks influence route navigation, however, these effects have not been extensively tested in ecologically-relevant settings. We used a virtual town in which participants learned various routes while simultaneously driving. We first examined the effect of four different landmark conditions on navigation performance, such that each driver experienced one of four versions of the town with either proximal landmarks only, distal landmarks only, both proximal and distal landmarks, or no landmarks. Drivers were given real-time navigation directions along a route to a target destination, and were then tested on their ability to navigate to the same destination without directions. We found that the presence of proximal landmarks significantly improved route navigation. We then examined the effect of prior exposure to proximal vs. distal landmarks by testing the same drivers in the same environment they previously encountered, but with the landmarks removed. In this case, we found that prior exposure to distal landmarks significantly improved route navigation. The present results are in line with existing research on route navigation and landmarks, suggesting that these findings can be extended to ecologically-relevant settings.

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“…The drivers' ability to remember moving and stationary objects in the environment (i.e., SA) is related to their cognitive load. Cognitive stress was shown to determine memory performance where cognitive load decreases the accuracy of recollection of moving objects [95]. Regarding this, under a high perceptual load drivers are expected to fail noticing, e.g., an unexpected pedestrian [96].…”

Section: Drivers Measures Using Eye-trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

HMD-Based VR Tool for Traffic Psychological Examination: Conceptualization and Design Proposition

et al. 2021

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In the present theoretical paper, the current body of knowledge regarding the use of wearable virtual reality (VR) technologies for traffic psychological examination (TPE) is introduced, critically discussed and a specific application is suggested. The combination of wearable head-mounted displays for VR with an interactive and cost-effective haptic driving interface is emphasized as a valid and viable platform for a driving skills psychological assessment, which is in several aspects superior to standard TPE as well as driving simulators. For this purpose, existing psychological examination methods and psychological phenomena relevant in the process of driving are discussed together with VR technology’s properties and options. Special focus is dedicated to situation awareness as a crucial, but currently hardly measurable construct, where VR in combination with embedded eye-tracking (ET) technology represents a promising solution. Furthermore, the suitability and possibilities of these VR tools for valid traffic psychological examination are analyzed and discussed. Additionally, potentially desirable measures for driving assessment based on recent advances of VR are outlined and practical applications are suggested. The aim of this article is to bring together recent advances in TPE, VR and ET; revise previous relevant studies in the field; and to propose concept of the cost effective, mobile and expandable HMD-based driving simulator, which can be suitable for an ecologically valid driving assessment and follow-up TPE in common practice.

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Cognitive load while driving impairs memory of moving but not stationary elements within the environment.

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

Inattentional Blindness During Driving in Younger and Older Adults

Inattentional Blindness During Driving in Younger and Older Adults

Testing landmark-specific effects on route navigation in an ecologically valid setting: a simulated driving study

HMD-Based VR Tool for Traffic Psychological Examination: Conceptualization and Design Proposition

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