Yi-Ching Lee

Mind Wandering Behind the Wheel: Performance and Oculomotor Correlates

Objective: An experiment studied the frequency and correlates of driver mind wandering. Background: Driver mind wandering is associated with risk for crash involvement. The present experiment examined the performance and attentional changes by which this effect might occur. Method: Participants performed a car-following task in a high-fidelity driving simulator and were asked to report any time they caught themselves mind wandering. Vehicle control and eye movement data were recorded. Results: As compared with their attentive performance, participants showed few deficits in vehicle control while mind wandering but tended to focus visual attention narrowly on the road ahead. Conclusion: Data suggest that mind wandering can engender a failure to monitor the environment while driving. Application: Results identify behavioral correlates and potential risks of mind wandering that might enable efforts to detect and mitigate driver inattention.

The interaction of cognitive load and attention-directing cues in driving

Objective: This study investigated the effect of a nondriving cognitively loading task on the relationship between drivers’ endogenous and exogenous control of attention. Background: Previous studies have shown that cognitive load leads to a withdrawal of attention from the forward scene and a narrowed field of view, which impairs hazard detection. Method: Posner’s cue-target paradigm was modified to study how endogenous and exogenous cues interact with cognitive load to influence drivers’ attention in a complex dynamic situation. In a driving simulator, pedestrian crossing signs that predicted the spatial location of pedestrians acted as endogenous cues. To impose cognitive load on drivers, we had them perform an auditory task that simulated the demands of emerging in-vehicle technology. Irrelevant exogenous cues were added to half of the experimental drives by including scene clutter. Results: The validity of endogenous cues influenced how drivers scanned for pedestrian targets. Cognitive load delayed drivers’ responses, and scene clutter reduced drivers’ fixation durations to pedestrians. Cognitive load diminished the influence of exogenous cues to attract attention to irrelevant areas, and drivers were more affected by scene clutter when the endogenous cues were invalid. Conclusion: Cognitive load suppresses interference from irrelevant exogenous cues and delays endogenous orienting of attention in driving. Application: The complexity of everyday tasks, such as driving, is better captured experimentally in paradigms that represent the interactive nature of attention and processing load.

Adolescence, Attention Allocation, and Driving Safety

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading source of morbidity and mortality in adolescents in the United States and the developed world. Inadequate allocation of attention to the driving task and to driving hazards are important sources of adolescent crashes. We review major explanations for these attention failures with particular focus on the roles that brain immaturity and lack of driving experience play in causing attention problems. The review suggests that the potential for overcoming inexperience and immaturity with training to improve attention to both the driving task and hazards is substantial. Nevertheless, there are large individual differences in both attentional abilities and risky driving tendencies that pose challenges to novice driver policies. Research that can provide evidence-based direction for such policies is urgently needed.

Using Crash Data to Develop Simulator Scenarios for Assessing Novice Driver Performance

Teenage drivers are at their highest crash risk in their first 6 months or first 1,000 mi of driving. Driver training, adult-supervised practice driving, and other interventions are aimed at improving driving performance in novice drivers. Previous driver training programs have enumerated thousands of scenarios, with each scenario requiring one or more skills. Although there is general agreement about the broad set of skills needed to become a competent driver, there is no consensus set of scenarios and skills to assess whether novice drivers are likely to crash or to assess the effects of novice driver training programs on the likelihood of a crash. The authors propose that a much narrower, common set of scenarios can be used to focus on the high-risk crashes of young drivers. Until recently, it was not possible to identify the detailed set of scenarios that were specific to high-risk crashes. However, an integration of police crash reports from previous research, a number of critical simulator studies, and a nationally representative database of serious teen crashes (the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey) now make identification of these scenarios possible. In this paper, the authors propose this novel approach and discuss how to create a common set of simulated scenarios and skills to assess novice driver performance and the effects of training and interventions as they relate to high-risk crashes.

Development of Web-Based Parent Support Program to Improve Quantity, Quality, and Diversity of Teens’ Home-Based Practice Driving

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a web-based program, the teen driving plan (TDP), for the parents of teen drivers and the results of a process evaluation to determine whether this intervention can be used as intended for the target population. The TDP is designed to promote parents’ facilitation of their teens’ home-based practice driving to increase the quantity, quality, and diversity of teens’ practice. The core functionality of the program centers on encouraging parents to plan and log practice drives. Use of these online tools encourages parents to watch short video tutorials that provide guidance on how to structure practice drives. Results of the mixed-methods process evaluation (n = 16 families) suggest that the TDP was viewed favorably by families and can be used by parents of learner teen drivers to plan and log practice drives. Families were followed over a 6-week period, and data were collected on the TDP use, participants’ practice driving, participants’ reactions to using the program, and their suggestions for improving the TDP. Multiple research methods were used, including user-tracking software, online surveys, focus groups and interviews, and a technical assistance log. Participants provided helpful feedback about website design and functionality. Overall, the results indicate that the TDP is a promising new intervention worthy of further development and research.

Effects of Cognitive and Perceptual Loads on Driver Behavior

The objective of the study was to examine how cognitive and perceptual loads affect driving strategies and the guidance of attention. A cue–target search task was implemented, and two experiments manipulated prioritization of a primary task and working memory load (Experiment 1) and congruence and salience of targets (Experiment 2). The cues and non-target distracters in the environment were designed to influence discriminability and predictability of target locations (e.g., target pedestrians or target squares). Driving-related variables along with reaction times and accuracy scores were collected. The load theory of attention was used as a framework for the design of the experiments. The study was designed to expand the findings of load theory research to a more realistic driving environment and identify how drivers strategized in conditions of cognitive and perceptual loads. In line with previous studies, both experiments found better lane control during the dual-task period when compared with single-task performance. The other driving results showed detrimental effects of performing secondary tasks while driving. In Experiment 1, prioritization increased target accuracy while decreasing reaction times. In Experiment 2, high salience of targets increased accuracy, but curiously increased reaction times for target detection. Although some results were not as expected, the perceptual load manipulation had an overall negative effect on visual search. In-vehicle interfaces could benefit by incorporating designs that do not exhaust drivers’ working memory or distract them with complex displays.

Preliminary research developing a theory of cell phone distraction and social relationships

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death and injury for people aged 5-34, accounting annually for over 3000 deaths, and 100 times as many injuries. It is well established that distracted driving, and cell phone use while driving in particular, pose significant crash risk to drivers. Research has demonstrated that drivers are well aware of this danger but over 90% of drivers report using a cell phone while driving. Given the likely role that social influence plays in how people use cell phones while driving surprisingly little research has been conducted investigating to whom drivers are talking or texting. We report the results of a national survey to determine who drivers are most likely to call or text when behind the wheel and compared these results with general cell phone calling and texting patterns as well as previous findings on the prevalence of calling and texting while driving. The results suggest that social distance is a key factor in cell phone use while driving: Teens are more likely to talk with parents, and adults are more likely to talk with spouses than general calling patterns would suggest. We discuss whether the purpose of calls made while driving, such as coordination, could help explain these patterns. We propose next steps for further examining the role social relationships play in cell phone use while driving to potentially reduce teen driver cell phone use by lowering the number of calls from parents.

What is stressful on the road? Analysis on aggression-inducing traffic situations through self-report:

An exploratory study was designed to understand how drivers perceive and interpret aggression and stress-inducing traffic situations. The goals of the study were to identify the most stressful situations to be used in a follow-on empirical study and to examine the relative rankings of stressful situations across demographic subgroups. Using a convenience sample, our findings support the results from previous studies that gender, history of driving, and driving experience play a significant role in perceiving and interpreting the intentions of others. Drivers who had prior violations and citations perceived others’ behaviors more negatively. Males had more situations related to others’ deliberate aggressive behaviors in their top 15 traffic situations, compared to females. Females had more environmental factors in their top 15 when compared to males. Continuing education and emphasis on improving the driving culture may be helpful in reducing the aggression toward others, especially when the communications between road users are primarily based on non-verbal observations.

Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for teen drivers: results from a validation study

Background Driver error and inadequate skill are common critical reasons for novice teen driver crashes, yet few validated, standardised assessments of teen driving skills exist. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the construct and criterion validity of a newly developed Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for novice teen drivers. Methods The SDA’s 35 min simulated drive incorporates 22 variations of the most common teen driver crash configurations. Driving performance was compared for 21 inexperienced teens (age 16–17 years, provisional license ≤90 days) and 17 experienced adults (age 25–50 years, license ≥5 years, drove ≥100 miles per week, no collisions or moving violations ≤3 years). SDA driving performance (Error Score) was based on driving safety measures derived from simulator and eye-tracking data. Negative driving outcomes included simulated collisions or run-off-the-road incidents. A professional driving evaluator/instructor (DEI Score) reviewed videos of SDA performance. Results The SDA demonstrated construct validity: (1) teens had a higher Error Score than adults (30 vs 13, p=0.02); (2) For each additional error committed, the RR of a participants propensity for a simulated negative driving outcome increased by 8% (95% CI 1.05 to 1.10, p<0.01). The SDA-demonstrated criterion validity: Error Score was correlated with DEI Score (r=−0.66, p<0.001). Conclusions This study supports the concept of validated simulated driving tests like the SDA to assess novice driver skill in complex and hazardous driving scenarios. The SDA, as a standard protocol to evaluate teen driver performance, has the potential to facilitate screening and assessment of teen driving readiness and could be used to guide targeted skill training.

Case-Based Prediction of Teen Driver Behavior and Skill

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group and claiming the lives of about eight teenagers a day, according to the 2010 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In order to inform new training methods and new technology to accelerate learning and reduce teen crash risk, a more complete understanding of this complex driving behavior was needed. In this application paper we present our first step towards deploying case-based techniques to model teenage driver behavior and skill level. Specifically, we present our results in using case-based reasoning (CBR) to model both the vehicle control behavior and the skill proficiency of teen drivers by using data collected in a high-fidelity driving simulator. In particular, we present a new similarity measure to compare behavioral data based on feature selection methods, which achieved good results in predicting behavior and skill.