title: Mind wandering behind the wheel: performance and oculomotor correlates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An experiment studied the frequency and correlates of driver mind wandering.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Driver mind wandering is associated with risk for crash involvement. The present experiment examined the performance and attentional changes by which this effect might occur.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants performed a car-following task in a high-fidelity driving simulator and were asked to report any time they caught themselves mind wandering. Vehicle control and eye movement data were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As compared with their attentive performance, participants showed few deficits in vehicle control while mind wandering but tended to focus visual attention narrowly on the road ahead.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data suggest that mind wandering can engender a failure to monitor the environment while driving.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results identify behavioral correlates and potential risks of mind wandering that might enable efforts to detect and mitigate driver inattention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
authors.forename: Jibo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Ensar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Becic
authors.forename: Yi-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jason S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: McCarley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult