United States Department of Transportation
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Detection Response Task Evaluation for Driver Distraction Measurement for Auditory-Vocal Tasks: Experiment 2
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2019-09-01
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[PDF-6.45 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:This research evaluated the Detection Response Task (DRT) as a measure of the attentional demands of auditory-vocal in-vehicle tasks. DRT is an ISO standardized method that requires participants to respond to simple targets that occur every 3-5 s during in-vehicle task performance. DRT variants use different targets: Remote DRT (RDRT) uses visual targets; Tactile DRT (TDRT) uses vibrating targets. A single experiment evaluated the sensitivity of the two DRT variants in two test venues (driving simulator and non-driving) using auditory-vocal tasks. Participant selection criteria from the Visual-Manual NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines were used to recruit 192 participants; 48 were assigned to each combination of DRT variant and test venue. Identical production vehicles were used in each venue. In the simulator, participants wore a head-mounted eye tracker and performed in-vehicle tasks while driving in a car-following scenario. In the non-driving venue, occlusion testing required participants to perform the four discrete tasks while wearing occlusion goggles, which restricted viewing intermittently to simulate driving task demands. In-vehicle tasks for both venues included three discrete auditory-vocal tasks (destination entry, phone dialing, radio tuning), one discrete visual-manual task (radio tuning), and two continuous auditory-vocal digit-recall tasks representing acceptable (1-back) and unacceptable (2-back) levels of attentional load. Testing in each venue had a second part. All participants’ last procedural step involved brake response time (BRT) testing in the simulator which required participants to brake in response to both expected and unexpected lead-vehicle (LV) braking events while performing selected in-vehicle tasks. Differences observed between test venues suggest that some in-vehicle tasks are more demanding when performed intermittently in the driving simulator than when performed continuously in the non-driving venue, thus pointing to the driving simulator as the better test venue. BRT results provided some support for a connection between DRT RT and BRT; however, the experiment did not provide sufficient control of speed and headway to allow a stronger comparison. DRT results support the conclusion that the 2-back condition represents too much attentional demand and that acceptable tasks should have a lower level of attentional demand. Differences between TSOT and TEORT indicated that occlusion is not suitable for assessing auditory-vocal tasks; however, TEORT and other glance-based metrics appear suitable for use with auditory-vocal tasks. BRT testing revealed a small effect of attentional load for unexpected LV braking events but not for expected LV braking events. Mean heart rate was sensitive to differences in attentional load.
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Content Notes:Suggested APA Format Citation: Ranney, T. A., Baldwin, G. H. S., Skuce, I. A., Smith, L. A., & Mazzae, E. N. (2019, September). Detection response task evaluation for driver distraction measurement for auditory-vocal tasks: Experiment 2 (Report No. DOT HS 812 800). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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