Car driving under distraction: Effects on brain activity and driving performance in young, middle-aged and older drivers

• Applicant: Dr. Melanie Karthaus
• Subject Area: Human Factors, Ergonomics, Human-Machine Systems
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284278218

Distracted driving is one major risk factor in traffic and causes a considerable number of road traffic accidents. Distractibility changes across the lifespan and is enhanced in very young and old drivers. Since the percentage of young and old drivers will increase in future, it is important to develop appropriate methods to reduce distraction of drivers. Based on the preceding project “Car driving under distraction: Effects on brain activity and driving performance in young, middle-aged and older drivers” the present application aims to investigate two short interventions, using additional information to reduce the distractibility of young and older drivers in critical driving situations. This is a) a technology-related intervention simulating a driver assistance system, using cues as warning signals, and b) a human-centered approach, using individual feedback to inform the drivers about their driving performance under distraction.In the proposed experiment, young (18-25 years) and older (65-75 years) car drivers perform a driving task in a driving simulator before (pre-test) and after (post-test) an intervention (cues vs. feedback). The driving task consists of lane-keeping and braking as a response to critical events. Participants have to respond to occasionally presented single distractors, provided that these do not occur in critical driving situations. In this case, the distractors had to be ignored. To assess participants’ task performance and analyze the underlying information processes of potential performance improvements, behavioral data (response times and error rates) and neurophysiologic data (EEG/ERP) will be recorded. Moreover, post-test data will reveal, if performance improvements will maintain, when the additional intervention-stimuli (cue or feedback) will be removed. Finally age-related differences and other possible modulating factors in the efficacy of the two interventions will be investigated.The results will expand our knowledge about age-specific and individual distractibility and inhibition and may be utilized to develop age-specific methods to reduce distractibility in driving context.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants