Measuring cognitive distraction in the automobile (original) (raw)

A Comparison of Subjective Mental Workload Measures in Driving Contexts

Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea, 2013

Objective: This study aims to compare the usefulness of subjective measures which are comprised of existing methods like NASA-TLX, Bedford-scale and ZEIS and newly developed method like DALI in measuring drivers' mental workload in terms of validity, sensitivity and diagnosticity. Background: Nowadays, with the development of intelligent vehicle and HMI, mental workload of driver has become more and more important. For this reason, the studies on drivers' mental workload about driving situation and the use of information technology equipment such as mobile phones and navigations were conducted intensively. However, the studies on measuring drivers' mental workload were rarely conducted. Moreover, most of studies on comparison of subjective measures were used with performance based measure. However, performance based measures can cause distraction effect with subjective measures. Method: Participants (N=19) were engaged in a driving simulation experiment in 2 driving contexts (downtown driving and highway driving context). The experiment has 2 sessions according to driving contexts. The level of difficulties by driving contexts were adjusted according to existence of intersections, traffic signs and signals, billboards and the number of doublings. Moreover, as criteria of concurrent validity and sensitivity, the EEG data were recorded before and during the sessions. Results: The results indicated that all subjective methods were correlates with EEG in highway driving. On the contrary to this, in downtown driving, all subjective methods were not correlates with EEG. In terms of sensitivity, multi-dimensional scales (NASA-TLX, DALI) were the only ones to identify differences between high way and downtown driving. Finally, in terms of diagnosticity, DALI was the most suitable method for evaluating drivers' mental workload in driving context. Conclusion: The DALI as newly developed method dedicated to evaluate driver's mental workload was superior in terms of sensitivity and diagnosticity. However, researchers should consider the characteristics of each subjective method synthetically according to research objective by selecting the method in subjective measures. Application: The results of this study could be applied to the intelligent vehicle and next generation of HMI design to decrease mental workload of driver and for the development of new subjective method in vehicle domain.

The relationship between driver distraction and mental workload

At urban intersections drivers handle multiple tasks simultaneously, making urban driving a complex task. An advanced driver assistance system may support drivers in this specific driving task, but the design details of such a system need to be determined before they can be fully deployed. A driving simulator experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between different subtasks of driving at urban intersections. Participants completed four drives, each comprising 20 comparable intersections with different traffic situations and encountered one unexpected braking event during the experiment. The effects of varying levels of event urgency on the relationship between different driving subtasks were studied. Furthermore, the influence of workload on this relationship was determined by giving half of the subjects an additional cognitive task. After the lead car braked unexpectedly, participants reduced speed and increased headway depending on the urgency of the braking event. Depending on the workload, participants returned to the normal speed and headway again after a number of intersections. Participants experiencing a high-workload drove more smoothly, except for those who had experienced the most urgent unexpected event. High workload additionally affected the length of the adjustments to the unexpected event.

Mental Workload, Task Demand and Driving Performance: What Relation?

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

This article aims to contextualize the conceptual definition of mental workload, conducting a review of its relation with driving task demands. In addition, it presents an overview of measurement tools used for evaluating driver mental workload.

The Psychometrics of Mental Workload: Multiple Measures Are Sensitive but Divergent

Objective: A study was run to test the sensitivity of multiple workload indices to the differing cognitive demands of four military monitoring task scenarios and to investigate relationships between indices. Background: Various psychophysiological indices of mental workload exhibit sensitivity to task factors. However, the psychometric properties of multiple indices, including the extent to which they intercorrelate, have not been adequately investigated. Method: One hundred fifty participants performed in four task scenarios based on a simulation of unmanned ground vehicle operation. Scenarios required threat detection and/or change detection. Both single- and dual-task scenarios were used. Workload metrics for each scenario were derived from the electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram, transcranial Doppler sonography, functional near infrared, and eye tracking. Subjective workload was also assessed. Results: Several metrics showed sensitivity to the differing demands of the four scenarios. Eye fixation duration and the Task Load Index metric derived from EEG were diagnostic of single-versus dual-task performance. Several other metrics differentiated the two single tasks but were less effective in differentiating single- from dual-task performance. Psychometric analyses confirmed the reliability of individual metrics but failed to identify any general workload factor. An analysis of difference scores between low- and high-workload conditions suggested an effort factor defined by heart rate variability and frontal cortex oxygenation. Conclusions: General workload is not well defined psychometrically, although various individual metrics may satisfy conventional criteria for workload assessment. Application: Practitioners should exercise caution in using multiple metrics that may not correspond well, especially at the level of the individual operator.

Assessing Cognitive Distraction in the Automobile

Human factors, 2015

The objective was to establish a systematic framework for measuring and understanding cognitive distraction in the automobile. Driver distraction from secondary in-vehicle activities is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Across three studies, participants completed eight in-vehicle tasks commonly performed by the driver of an automobile. Primary, secondary, subjective, and physiological measures were collected and integrated into a cognitive distraction scale. In-vehicle activities, such as listening to the radio or an audio book, were associated with a low level of cognitive workload; the conversation activities of talking to a passenger in the vehicle or conversing with a friend on a handheld or hands-free cell phone were associated with a moderate level of cognitive workload; and using a speech-to-text interfaced e-mail system involved a high level of cognitive workload. The research established that there are significant im...

Sensitivity of Multiple Cognitive Workload Measures: A Field Study Considering Environmental Factors

Objective: This paper aims to compare the sensitivity of multimodal cognitive workload measures for classifying a driver's cognitive demand level from on-road experimental data. The measurement domains consist of driving performance, physiological arousal and eye behavioral change. Method: subjects (15 males in the 25-35 age range (M=27.9, SD=3.13)), experimental setup (an instrumented vehicle which consists of six video cameras, driving data logger, gaze tracker, and physiological measurement systems), procedure (20 minutes of driving exercise on a urban road and another 20 minutes of highway driving on 36km of highway), cognitive load (N-back task, an auditory delayed digit recall task was used to create periods of cognitive demand at three distinct levels), rating of driving workload (rating subjective driving workload after watching the experimental video clips by 4 different reviewers). Result: Potential measures of driver's cognitive workload are suggested to estimate ...