Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Gaze-Based Training Intervention on Latent Hazard Anticipation Skills for Young Drivers: A Driving Simulator Study

A PC-based training program (Road Awareness and Perception Training or RAPT; Pradhan et al., 2009), proven effective for improving young novice drivers\u27 hazard anticipation skills, did not fully maximize the hazard anticipation performance of young drivers despite the use of similar anticipation scenarios in both, the training and the evaluation drives. The current driving simulator experiment examined the additive effects of expert eye movement videos following RAPT training on young drivers\u27 hazard anticipation performance compared to video-only and RAPT-only conditions. The study employed a between-subject design in which 36 young participants (aged 18-21) were equally and randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, were outfitted with an eye tracker and drove four unique scenarios on a driving simulator to evaluate the effect of treatment on their anticipation skills. The results indicate that the young participants that viewed the videos of expert eye movements following the completion of RAPT showed significant improvements in their hazard anticipation ability (85%) on the subsequent experimental evaluation drives compared to those young drivers who were only exposed to either the RAPT training (61%) or the Video (43%). The results further imply that videos of expert eye movements shown immediately after RAPT training may improve the drivers\u27 anticipation skills by helping them map and integrate the spatial and tactical knowledge gained in a training program within dynamic driving environments involving latent hazards. © 2018 by the authors

Transient Signals and Inattentional Blindness in a Multi-Object Tracking Task

Inattentional blindness is a failure to notice an unexpected event when attention is directed elsewhere. The current study examined participants\u27 awareness of an unexpected object that maintained luminance contrast, switched the luminance once, or repetitively flashed. One hundred twenty participants performed a dynamic tracking task on a computer monitor for which they were instructed to count the number of movement deflections of an attended set of objects while ignoring other objects. On the critical trial, an unexpected cross that did not change its luminance (control condition), switched its luminance once (switch condition), or repetitively flashed (flash condition) traveled across the stimulus display. Participants noticed the unexpected cross more frequently when the luminance feature matched their attention set than when it did not match. Unexpectedly, however, a proportion of the participants who noticed the cross in the switch and flash conditions were statistically comparable. The results suggest that an unexpected object with even a single luminance change can break inattentional blindness in a multi-object tracking task

Following Expert’s Eyes: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Gaze-Based Training Intervention on Young Drivers’ Latent Hazard Anticipation Skills

A PC-based training program (RAPT; Pradhan et al., 2009), proven effective for improving young novice drivers’ hazard anticipation skills, does not improve the hazard anticipation performance of young drivers to ceiling despite the use of similar scenarios in both the training program and the evaluation drives. The current driving simulator experiment examined the effects of expert eye movement videos that demonstrated correct hazard anticipation, following RAPT-training on young drivers’ hazard anticipation performance. The results indicate that viewing the expert eye movement videos following the completion of RAPT can further increase the hazard anticipation ability of young drivers on subsequent evaluation drives. The results imply that videos of expert eye movements, if used appropriately, can help young drivers effectively map and integrate the knowledge gained in a training program within dynamic driving environments involving latent hazards