Berfu Unal | University of Groningen (original) (raw)
Papers by Berfu Unal
Title song: “Please don’t stop the music… ” by Rihanna
Proceedings of the 4th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle, 2007
Proceedings of the 4th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle, 2007
High accident risk of novice and inexperienced drivers is associated with their poor hazard perce... more High accident risk of novice and inexperienced drivers is associated with their poor hazard perception ability. In past studies, hazard perception latencies (reaction time) were measured using hazards in simulated traffic environments, scenario-based video clips, or photographs, but rarely with real-life traffic situations. We developed two different measures to assess hazard perception ability (1) video clips of hazards recorded in real-life traffic settings and (2) the video clips of animated hazards. We compared these two measures in terms of their power in discriminating between novice and experienced drivers. Novice (N= 43) and experienced drivers (N = 65) were admisistered computerbased Turkish Hazard Perception Tests consisting of 40 real traffic and animated video clips of hazards. Results revealed that although experienced drivers detected the hazards relatively earlier than the novices on average, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant for both real-traffic and video clips. Examination of the group differences on each item suggested video clips reflecting actual traffic situations discriminate novice and experienced drivers better than animated clips. Content analyses of the clips that significantly discriminated groups revealed that novice drivers have difficulty in detecting hazards resulting from an unexpected or suddent violation of road users. It seemed that lack of experience in anticipating the other road users' violations creates a critical vulnerability for the safety of novice drivers.
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 2013
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Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2012
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Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2015
Across 3 studies, we investigated whether visual complexity deriving from internally repeating vi... more Across 3 studies, we investigated whether visual complexity deriving from internally repeating visual information over many scale levels is a source of perceptual fluency. Such continuous repetition of visual information is formalized in fractal geometry and is a key-property of natural structures. In the first 2 studies, we exposed participants to 3-dimensional high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli, respectively, characterized by a relatively high versus low degree of internal repetition of visual information. Participants' evaluated high-fractal stimuli as more complex and fascinating than their low-fractal counterparts. We assessed ease of processing by asking participants to solve effortful puzzles during and after exposure to high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli. Across both studies, we found that puzzles presented during and after seeing high-fractal stimuli were perceived as the easiest ones to solve and were solved more accurately and faster than puzzles associated with the low-fractal stimuli. In Study 3, we ran the Dot Probe Procedure to rule out that the findings from Study 1 and Study 2 reflected differences in attentional bias between the high-fractal and low-fractal stimuli, rather than perceptual fluency. Overall, our findings confirm that complexity deriving from internal repetition of visual information can be easy on the mind.
The current research examined how drivers handle task-demands induced by listening to the radio w... more The current research examined how drivers handle task-demands induced by listening to the radio while driving. In particular, we explored the traces of a possible cognitive strategy that might be used by drivers to cope with task-demands, namely blocking-out auditory distracters. In Study 1 (N=15), participants listened to a radio-broadcast while watching traffic videos on a screen. Based on a recall task asking about what they had listened to, we created baseline scores reflecting the general levels of blocking-out of radio-content when there was no concurrent driving task accompanying the radio-listening. In Study 2 (N=46), participants were asked to complete two drives in the simulator: one drive in high-complexity traffic and another in low-complexity traffic. About half of the participants listened to a radio-broadcast while driving, and the other half drove in silence. The radio-listeners were given the same recall task that we had used in Study 1. The results revealed that the participants who drove while listening to the radio (Study 2) recalled less material from the radio-broadcast as compared to the participants who did not drive (Study 1). In addition, the participants who drove while listening to the radio recalled less talk-radio excerpts when driving in high-complexity traffic than when driving in low-complexity traffic. Importantly, listening to the radio did not impair driving performance. Together, these findings indicate that blocking-out radio-content might indeed be a strategy used by drivers to maintain their driving performance.
Title song: “Please don’t stop the music… ” by Rihanna
Proceedings of the 4th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle, 2007
Proceedings of the 4th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle, 2007
High accident risk of novice and inexperienced drivers is associated with their poor hazard perce... more High accident risk of novice and inexperienced drivers is associated with their poor hazard perception ability. In past studies, hazard perception latencies (reaction time) were measured using hazards in simulated traffic environments, scenario-based video clips, or photographs, but rarely with real-life traffic situations. We developed two different measures to assess hazard perception ability (1) video clips of hazards recorded in real-life traffic settings and (2) the video clips of animated hazards. We compared these two measures in terms of their power in discriminating between novice and experienced drivers. Novice (N= 43) and experienced drivers (N = 65) were admisistered computerbased Turkish Hazard Perception Tests consisting of 40 real traffic and animated video clips of hazards. Results revealed that although experienced drivers detected the hazards relatively earlier than the novices on average, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant for both real-traffic and video clips. Examination of the group differences on each item suggested video clips reflecting actual traffic situations discriminate novice and experienced drivers better than animated clips. Content analyses of the clips that significantly discriminated groups revealed that novice drivers have difficulty in detecting hazards resulting from an unexpected or suddent violation of road users. It seemed that lack of experience in anticipating the other road users' violations creates a critical vulnerability for the safety of novice drivers.
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 2013
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2012
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2015
Across 3 studies, we investigated whether visual complexity deriving from internally repeating vi... more Across 3 studies, we investigated whether visual complexity deriving from internally repeating visual information over many scale levels is a source of perceptual fluency. Such continuous repetition of visual information is formalized in fractal geometry and is a key-property of natural structures. In the first 2 studies, we exposed participants to 3-dimensional high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli, respectively, characterized by a relatively high versus low degree of internal repetition of visual information. Participants' evaluated high-fractal stimuli as more complex and fascinating than their low-fractal counterparts. We assessed ease of processing by asking participants to solve effortful puzzles during and after exposure to high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli. Across both studies, we found that puzzles presented during and after seeing high-fractal stimuli were perceived as the easiest ones to solve and were solved more accurately and faster than puzzles associated with the low-fractal stimuli. In Study 3, we ran the Dot Probe Procedure to rule out that the findings from Study 1 and Study 2 reflected differences in attentional bias between the high-fractal and low-fractal stimuli, rather than perceptual fluency. Overall, our findings confirm that complexity deriving from internal repetition of visual information can be easy on the mind.
The current research examined how drivers handle task-demands induced by listening to the radio w... more The current research examined how drivers handle task-demands induced by listening to the radio while driving. In particular, we explored the traces of a possible cognitive strategy that might be used by drivers to cope with task-demands, namely blocking-out auditory distracters. In Study 1 (N=15), participants listened to a radio-broadcast while watching traffic videos on a screen. Based on a recall task asking about what they had listened to, we created baseline scores reflecting the general levels of blocking-out of radio-content when there was no concurrent driving task accompanying the radio-listening. In Study 2 (N=46), participants were asked to complete two drives in the simulator: one drive in high-complexity traffic and another in low-complexity traffic. About half of the participants listened to a radio-broadcast while driving, and the other half drove in silence. The radio-listeners were given the same recall task that we had used in Study 1. The results revealed that the participants who drove while listening to the radio (Study 2) recalled less material from the radio-broadcast as compared to the participants who did not drive (Study 1). In addition, the participants who drove while listening to the radio recalled less talk-radio excerpts when driving in high-complexity traffic than when driving in low-complexity traffic. Importantly, listening to the radio did not impair driving performance. Together, these findings indicate that blocking-out radio-content might indeed be a strategy used by drivers to maintain their driving performance.