Effects of verbal and spatial-imagery tasks on eye fixations while driving.
The consequences of performing verbal and spatial-imagery tasks on visual search when driving were studied. Twelve participants drove 84 km on 2 highways and 2 roads. On each route, they performed 2 verbal tasks and 2 spatial-imagery tasks while their eye movements were recorded. The same results were repeated on all routes. Pupillary dilation indicated similar effort for each task. Visual functional-field size decreased horizontally and vertically, particularly for spatial-imagery tasks. Compared with ordinary driving, fixations were longer during the spatial-imagery task. With regard to driving performance, glance frequency at mirrors and speedometer decreased during the spatial-imagery task. Results are interpreted in terms of multiple attention-resource theories; implications of internal distractions on road safety are discussed in terms of possible impairment in relevant information processing.
Department of Basic Processes, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. psbas05@sis.ucm.es
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D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D014705:Verbal Behavior