title: Look-ahead fixations in curve driving.
abstract: Two functionally distinct types of fixation, guiding fixations and look-ahead fixations, have been identified in naturalistic tasks based on their temporal relationship to the task execution. In car driving, steering through a curve is guided by fixations toward a region located 1-2 s in the future, but drivers also make fixations further along the road. We recorded drivers' eye movements while they drove an instrumented vehicle on curved rural roads and developed a method to quantify lead time and distance of look-ahead fixations. We also investigated the effect of cognitive load on look-ahead fixations. The look-ahead fixations appear to have a pattern which is connected to the sequential structure of a curve. This suggests that they have a role both in advance planning of the driving line and in the anticipation of oncoming vehicles. Cognitive load led to a shorter look-ahead lead time and distance.
  We developed a method to quantify lead time and distance of look-ahead fixations in curve driving from on-road eye movement data. The results are relevant for driver modelling and development of anticipation training programmes for novice drivers.
authors.affiliation: Traffic Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. esko.lehtonen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Esko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lappi
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kotkanen
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Summala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult