Event-related potentials and secondary task performance during simulated driving

Abstract

Inattention and distraction account for a substantial number of traffic accidents. Therefore, we examined the impact of secondary task performance (an auditory oddball task) on a primary driving task (lane keeping). Twenty healthy participants performed two 20-min tests in the Divided Attention Steering Simulator (DASS). The visual secondary task of the DASS was replaced by an auditory oddball task to allow recording of brain activity. The driving task and the secondary (distracting) oddball task were presented in isolation and simultaneously, to assess their mutual interference. In addition to performance measures (lane keeping in the primary driving task and reaction speed in the secondary oddball task), brain activity, i.e. event-related potentials (ERPs), was recorded. Performance parameters on the driving test and the secondary oddball task did not differ between performance in isolation and simultaneous performance. However, when both tasks were performed simultaneously, reaction time variability increased in the secondary oddball task. Analysis of brain activity indicated that ERP amplitude (P3a amplitude) related to the secondary task, was significantly reduced when the task was performed simultaneously with the driving test. This study shows that when performing a simple secondary task during driving, performance of the driving task and this secondary task are both unaffected. However, analysis of brain activity shows reduced cortical processing of irrelevant, potentially distracting stimuli from the secondary task during driving.

Alcohol, emotion and attention: revisiting the Alcohol Myopia Theory

“…Within this context, one can conclude that alcohol effects were decisive for the elimination of the emotional interference, since sober subjects still exhibited a delay in reaction time even during execution of the same "hard" task, that is, under the same load and the same distractive emotional pictures (Erthal et al, 2004;Erthal et al, 2005). In fact, the referred study provides further evidence that corroborates the Alcohol Myopia Theory Steele & Josephs, 1988;and Wester, Bocker, Volkerts, Verster, & Kenemans, 2008) by showing that emotional stimuli seem to lose their relevance under alcohol intoxication in the presence of a relevant demanding cognitive task, thus failing in capturing attention automatically. Therefore, the attenuation of the processing of emotional pictures was mediated by the alcohol effects on cognition.…”

“…a child suddenly crossing in front of the car). Thus, driving can be considered a divided attentional task, which involves paying attention to relevant and unexpected (distractive) stimuli (Clifasefi, Takarangi, & Bergman, 2006;Wester et al, 2008). In the case of an intoxicated individual, whose attentional capacity is reduced, sufficient resources would not be available to process new and important stimuli occurring in the scene, such as the child suddenly crossing the street.…”

Emotionally involving telephone conversations lead to driver error and visual tunnelling

“…In addition to the type of conversation engaged in (whether it is a personal or a business call), the content of the conversation has also been the focus of investigation (see Matthews et al, 2003;Tsimhoni, Green, & Lai, 2001). Whilst some researchers contend that any conversation negatively affects driving performance when dual tasking (Strayer & Johnston, 2001), others suggest that differences in the topic of the conversation result in differential negative effects on driving performance (Wester, Böcker, Volkerts, Verster, & Kenemans, 2007).…”

Effect of distraction task on driving performance of experienced taxi drivers

“…Because of a flaw in one or more of these factors, accidents occur wherein the main cause is most often the human factor [20]. Accidents because of human factors occur when the driver is inexperienced or careless (e.g., fails to respond to traffic signals and warnings) [21,22].…”