01628177

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2663-02

Involuntary distraction, which occurs when driver attention is diverted unintentionally by irrelevant stimuli or events, is often overlooked in experimental studies. The present work explores how involuntary distraction affects individual drivers and whether varying perceptual load in the driving environment modulates involuntary distraction engagement. In a simulator experiment, variability in glance behavior toward irrelevant stimuli was observed among participants, and higher self-reported everyday distractibility scores using the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire were found to be associated with longer glances, but not the number of glances, toward the irrelevant stimuli. These relationships suggest that the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire scale may correlate better with the ability to disengage from a distraction than with the ability to suppress automatic attentional capture. The study also found delayed accelerator release times to lead vehicle braking events in the presence of irrelevant stimuli. The perceptual responses associated with the accelerator release times show that the delay occurred after participants glanced at the brake light, possibly indicating slower processing of information under distraction. Contrary to expectation, perceptual load, manipulated by the simulated road’s visual complexity, did not affect involuntary distraction engagement but directly affected driving performance. Overall, findings reveal potential safety concerns for involuntary driver distraction, but further work is necessary to understand how individuals with different attentional limitations are affected by this distraction type.

01653375

17-06207

English

pp 12–19

2017

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309442060

Digital/other

Figures (5) ; Photos; References (29) ; Tables (1)

Attention lapses; Behavior; Cognition; Distraction; Drivers; Eye fixations; Workload

Highways; Safety and Human Factors

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 12:31PM

• Age-Based Simulation of Merging Behavior at Freeway Merging Ramps
• Analyzing and Modeling Drivers’ Deceleration Behavior from Normal Driving
• Automatic Driver Head State Estimation in Challenging Naturalistic Driving Videos
• Comparative Analysis of Toll Plaza Safety Features in Puerto Rico and Massachusetts with a Driving Simulator
• Crash Heterogeneity: Implications for Naturalistic Driving Studies and for Understanding Crash Risks
• Drivers’ Lane-Keeping Ability in Heavy Rain: Preliminary Investigation Using SHRP 2 Naturalistic Driving Study Data
• Effects of a Change in Environment on the Minimum Time to Situation Awareness in Transfer of Control Scenarios
• Effects of Alert Cue Specificity on Situation Awareness in Transfer of Control in Level 3 Automation
• Examining Potential Confounds in Use of the Detection Response Task for In-Vehicle System Evaluation
• How to Drive Drivers Nuts: Effect of Auditory, Vibrotactile, and Multimodal Warnings on Perceived Urgency, Annoyance, and Acceptability
• Investigating Driver Behavior at Minor-Street Stop-Controlled Intersections in Qatar
• Linking the Detection Response Task and the AttenD Algorithm Through Assessment of Human–Machine Interface Workload
• Modeling Effects of Forward Glance Durations on Latent Hazard Detection
• Modeling of Vehicles Merging Movement at Unsignalized Intersections Considering Drivers’ Risk Perception
• On-Road Visual Sign Salience, Driver Attention Allocation, and Target Detection Accuracy
• Strategies to Assist Drivers in Remaining Attentive While Under Partially Automated Driving: Verification of Human–Machine Interface Concepts