Measuring Cognitive Distraction in the Vehicle

2. Measuring Cognitive Distraction in the Vehicle David Strayer University of Utah

3. Multitasking and Driver Distraction “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” -- Albert Einstein FACT: People cannot successfully perform two attention-demanding tasks simultaneously without declines in performance on one or both tasks

4. The Driver Distraction Triad High Visual Cognitive Moderate Low Eyes off the Road Mind off the Drive Manual Hands off the Wheel

5. An Example of Cognitive Distraction

6. Observational Study(Intersection Study – 56K Drivers) • Traffic Violations 26.5% • Cell Phone Usage 10.2% • OR: 2.21 (95% CI 2.09 to 2.33)

7. Basketball Counting Task Report the pass count for team in white

8. Inattention-Blindness • Test for evidence of cell-phone induced inattention blindness • High-fidelity driving simulator • Hands-free cell phone • Naturalistic conversation with confederate • Eye tracker • Two phases to the study: • Phase 1: Single & dual-task driving • Phase 2: Recognition memory tests for objects encountered while driving

9. Recognition Memory Given Fixation

10. Encoding or Retrieval Deficits? • Encoding deficits • Reduced attention to perceptual inputs • Clear implications for traffic safety • Retrieval deficits • Failure to retrieve prior episodes • Less clear implications for traffic safety • Event-related brain potentials recorded to traffic brake lights • Single-task • Dual-task

11. Traffic-related Brain Activity Elicited by Brake Lights Brake

12. Cognitive Distraction: Inattention Blindness

14. Successful Navigation to Rest Stop

15. Cell-Phone Conversation

16. Passenger Conversation

17. Are We Reaching a Tipping Point?

18. Benchmarking Cognitive Distraction • How do we quantify cognitive sources of distraction? • How can we use this information to inform public policy?

19. Benchmarking Cognitive Distraction • Sources of Driver Distraction • Baseline driving ★ • Radio • Book on tape • Passenger conversation • Hand-held phone conversation • Hands-free conversation • Voice messaging / e-mail (speech to text & text to speech) • OSPAN task (memory/math task) ★★★★★ • Driving Simulator • On-Road Vehicle

20. A New Metric for Cognitive Distraction • Driving Simulator Measures • Brake RT • Following Distance • Brain Measures (ERPs to brake lights) • NASA TLX (mental workload) • Detection-Response Task (new ISO standard) • RT to green light (20/80) • Miss rate • ERPs to green light • On-Road Vehicle • NASA TLX (mental workload) • Brain Measures (ERPs to brake lights) • Detection-Response Task (new ISO standard) • RT to green light (20/80) • Miss rate • ERPs to green light

21. The Detection-Reaction Time (DRT) task • The DRT Task • New ISO Standard • 20% Green Targets • 80% Red Distractors • RT to Targets • Missed Targets • ERPs to Targets Target Light Microswitch

22. A New Metric for Cognitive Distraction(DRT Reaction Time)

23. A New Metric for Cognitive Distraction(DRT Miss Rate)

24. A 5-Star Rating System for Cognitive Distraction

25. Summary and Conclusions • Three sources of Driver Distraction • Visual • Manual • Cognitive • Cognitive Distraction • Inattention blindness • Impaired recognition memory, suppressed ERPs • Impaired visual scanning (tunnel vision)

26. Applied Cognition Laboratory