Javier Roca

Attentional Networks Functioning, Age, and Attentional Lapses While Driving

Objective: Based on Posners (1994) model of attentional functions, the relationship between age and personal proneness to attention-related errors while driving and the functioning of the 3 attentional networks were explored by means of attentional behavioral measures and self-report data. Methods: A sample of 55 drivers was drawn from the general population of Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Attention Network Test for Interactions (ANTI) (Callejas et al. 2004) task was used to obtain behavioral measures of the attentional networks, and we used the Attention-Related Driving Error Scale (ARDES) (Ledesma et al. 2010) questionnaire to obtain a self-report measure of attention-related driving errors. Results: Drivers reporting the greatest propensity to experience attention-related errors showed an overall slowdown in performance, less endogenous preparation for high = priority warning signs, and a better response to conflict in the presence of valid cues than drivers less prone to attention-related errors while driving. Older participants showed a slowdown in performance, less endogenous preparation for high-priority warning signs, and worse cognitive control when solving conflict in comparison with younger drivers. Conclusions: We suggest that each group variable, attention-related error proneness and age, shows a particular combination of attentional network functioning that implies different ways of being distracted, which have different practical implications for safe driving. It can be inferred that drivers who are more prone to commit attentional errors while driving run less risk in situations in which they can deal with response conflict in the presence of valid cues because of the particular way in which their attentional networks are combined when a valid cue is present, could serve to compensate, with a better response conflict, their general slowdown and less endogenous preparedness for high-priority signs. It can be inferred that older drivers might show a reduction of the general state of alertness to signs that indicate the presence of a dangerous driving situation and in solving conflict in traffic circumstances.

Development and Validation of the Spanish Hazard Perception Test

Objective: The aim of the current study is to develop and obtain valid evidence for a hazard perception test suitable for the Spanish driving population. To obtain valid evidence to support the use of the test, the effect of hazardous and quasi-hazardous situations on the participants’ hazard prediction is analyzed and the pattern of results for drivers with different driving experience—that is, learner, novice, and expert drivers and reoffender vs. nonoffender drivers—is compared. Potentially hazardous situations are those that develop without involving any real hazard (i.e., the driver did not actually have to decelerate or make any evasive maneuver to avoid a potential collision). The current study analyzed repeat offender drivers attending compulsory reeducation programs as a result of reaching the maximum number of penalty points on their driving license due to repeated violations of traffic laws. Method: A new video-based hazard perception test was developed, using a total of 20 hazardous situation videos plus 8 quasi-hazardous situation videos. They were selected from 167 recordings of natural hazards in real Spanish driving settings. Results: The test showed adequate psychometric properties and evidence of validity, distinguishing between different types of drivers. Psychometric results confirm a final version of the hazard perception test composed of 11 video clips of hazards and 6 video clips of quasi-hazards, for which an overall Cronbachs alpha coefficient of.77 was obtained. A lack of ability to detect quasi-hazards and distinguish them from hazardous situations was also found for learner, novice, and reoffender drivers. Learner drivers obtained lower average scores than novice and experienced drivers with the hazardous situation videos, and learner drivers obtained lower average scores than experienced drivers with the quasi-hazardous situation videos, suggesting that the ability to correctly identify hazardous traffic situations may develop early by accumulating initial driving experience. However, the ability to correctly identify quasi-hazardous situations may develop later with the accumulation of further driving experience. Developing this ability is also difficult for reoffender drivers. Conclusion: The test has adequate psychometric properties and is useful in distinguishing between learner, novice, and expert drivers. In addition, it is useful in that it analyzes the performance of both safe and unsafe drivers (reoffenders who have already lost their driving license).

A driving-emulation task to study the integration of goals with obligatory and prohibitory traffic signs

This research aims to analyse how drivers integrate the information provided by traffic signs with their general goals (i.e. where they want to go). Some previous studies have evaluated the comparative advantages of obligatory and prohibitory traffic signs using a judgement task. In this work, a new experimental task with greater similarity to driving situations is proposed. Participants imagine they are driving a vehicle and must make right or left turn manoeuvres according to a previously indicated objective and the information from obligatory and prohibitory traffic signs. Eighty-two participants took part in two different experiments. According to the results, an obligatory traffic sign is associated with faster and more accurate responses only when the participants initial objective is allowed. When the initial objective was not allowed, an advantage in accuracy was observed with prohibitory traffic signs and there was no significant difference in reaction time between the two types of sign. These results suggest that having an obligatory traffic sign may facilitate a correct response when the drivers goal is effectively allowed, whereas a prohibitory traffic sign could be more effective in preventing error when the driver has a not-allowed goal in mind. However, processing a prohibitory sign requires an extra inference (i.e. deciding which is the allowed manoeuvre), and thus the potential advantage in reaction time of the prohibitory sign may disappear. A second experiment showed that the results could not be explained by a potential congruency effect between the location (left or right) of the road signs and the position of the key or the hand used to respond (such as the Simon effect or the spatial Stroop effect). Also, an increase in the difficulty of the task (using an incongruent hand to respond) affected performance more strongly in experimental conditions that required making inferences. This made the advantage of the obligatory sign over the prohibitory sign in this condition more noteworthy. The evidence gathered in the current study could be of particular interest in some applied research areas, such as the assessment of road traffic signalling strategies or the ergonomic design of GPS navigation systems.

The moderating effects of vigilance on other components of attentional functioning

BACKGROUND Previous research suggested that vigilance may moderate the functioning of other attentional components. However, vigilance is usually neglected when comparing the attentional functioning between groups of clinical and/or healthy participants. NEW METHOD We combined data from several studies using the Attention Network Test for Interactions and Vigilance (ANTI-V), which includes a vigilance measure plus phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control scores. We estimated, for the first time, the reliability of the vigilance performance indices in the ANTI-V, by analyzing split-half correlations of 10,000 permutations of the trials. In addition, we tested whether a different attentional functioning would be found across the group of healthy participants varying in their vigilance performance, by using a considerably larger sample size (226 participants) than previous studies. RESULTS Vigilance indices were the most reliable among the different attentional scores. Regression models show an inverse relationship between vigilance and phasic alertness and executive control. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS No previous study has analysed the reliability of the vigilance performance indices in the ANTI-V. In comparison with other ANT variations, the ANTI-V provides a reliable measure of vigilance together with the typical phasic alertness, orienting and executive control scores. In addition, we provide estimates, based on a large sample size, of the magnitude of the link between vigilance and other attentional functions. CONCLUSIONS When assessing the multiple functions of attention, the current study highlights the importance of measuring vigilance, which may modulate the functioning of other attentional components, such as phasic alertness or executive control.

Difficulties of Drivers With Dyslexia When Reading Traffic Signs: Analysis of Reading, Eye Gazes, and Driving Performance:

A group of adult individuals with dyslexia and a matched group of normally reading individuals participated in a driving simulation experiment. Participants were asked to read the word presented on every direction traffic sign encountered along a route, as far as possible from the sign, maintaining driving performance. Word frequency and word length were manipulated as within-subject factors. We analyzed (a) reading accuracy, (b) how far the sign was when the participant started to give the response, (c) where the participant looked during the time leading up to the response, and (d) the variability of the vehicle’s speed during that time and during driving on similar segments of the route that did not present the traffic signs. Individuals with dyslexia showed lower levels of performance in the reading task, the roles of word frequency and word length were more influential for them, and there was larger variability of the vehicle’s speed during the time they were attempting to read the traffic sign, which did not occur during their driving on similar segments that did not present the targeted traffic signs. Therefore, the specific needs of individuals with dyslexia on the road should be considered in plans aimed at increasing traffic safety and fluidity.

Legibility of text and pictograms in variable message signs: can single-word messages outperform pictograms?

Objective: The current research shows the advantage of single-word messages in the particular case of variable message signs (VMSs) with a high aspect ratio. Background: Early studies on traffic sign design proposed that pictorial information would advantage equivalent text messages in static signs. Method: We used a driving simulator to present individually 36 VMSs, showing six words (e.g., “congestion”) and six danger signs (e.g., congestion traffic sign). In Experiment 1, 18 drivers read aloud the text or orally identified the pictograms as soon as they could correctly do it. In Experiment 2, a different sample of 18 drivers gave a motor response, according to the meaning of the message. We analyzed the legibility distance and accuracy, driving performance (speed variability), and glance behavior. Results: Our results show that single-word messages were associated with better performance (farther reading distances) and required less visual demands (fewer glances and less glancing times) than pictograms. Conclusion: As typical configurations of VMSs usually have a high aspect ratio, and thus allow large character heights, single-word messages can outperform the legibility of pictograms. However, the final advantage of text or pictorial messages would depend on several factors, such as the driver’s knowledge of the language and the pictogram set, the use of single or multiple words, the particular design and size of critical details in letters and pictograms, environmental factors, and driver age. Application: Potential applications include the design of VMSs and other devices aimed at displaying text and/or pictograms with a high aspect ratio.

Musealización de restos arqueológicos en el Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo, Granada (España)

The integration and creation of a museum to display the archeological remains of the Royal Rooms of Santo Domingo, especially in relation to the Qubba, make this building the most valuable and meaningful ‘piece’ of all the Cuatro’s contents. On this historical platform, the activities proposed for the creation of a museum outlined in the competition rules are easily and suitably organized according to established stratigraphic criteria, with the different architectural elements completing the ideas for the project: the Qubba, the XIX-century palacete (or rather, interventions from the XIX century onwards, according to documented sources which are attached), the romantic garden, and the remains. The project was conceived in a global scale with the aim of achieving the urban recuperation of this significant fragment of the city of Granada; all of this was the inspiration for our idea behind our intervention proposal with its overriding motto: open gardens