RESUMO
This study examined situations where drivers looked-but-failed-to-see (LBFTS) hazards, and whether passenger conversation and gender affected hazard detection rates. To reliably produce LBFTS errors, 40 young drivers (M=20.3) encountered motorcycles and pedestrians while making left turns in the University of Calgary Driving Simulator (UCDS). Prior to turn initiation the UCDS screens flickered using an extension of change blindness methods. In addition, drivers either drove alone or conversed with an attractive confederate passenger. Measures of LBFTS errors, hazard detection and social factors were analyzed. Higher rates of LBFTS errors and hazard detection occurred while conversing than while driving alone. A discriminant function analysis (DFA) using conversation and gender as predictors accurately classified LBFTS errors. Higher passenger attraction and higher extroversion were related to critical events being missed. The basis of LBFTS errors in divided and selective attention and classification implications are discussed.
Assuntos
Acidentes de Trânsito/prevenção & controle , Acidentes de Trânsito/psicologia , Atenção , Condução de Veículo/psicologia , Telefone Celular , Comportamento Perigoso , Relações Interpessoais , Comportamento Social , Comportamento Verbal , Percepção Visual , Aceleração/efeitos adversos , Adolescente , Adulto , Ansiedade/psicologia , Simulação por Computador , Movimentos Oculares , Feminino , Fixação Ocular , Humanos , Masculino , Fatores Sexuais , Software , Interface Usuário-Computador , Campos Visuais , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Latencies (RT) and eye movement measures were used to examine the effects of age and contrast on the distractor-ratio effect (DRE) in visual search. Younger and older adults performed a contrast x orientation conjunction search task where the ratios of white to black distractors and luminance contrast levels were varied. The distractor-ratio manipulation had similar effects for older and younger adults on both RT and the number of fixations required to find the target. Both measures were largely independent of distractor ratio on target-present trials, while both RTs and the fixation number increased with the number of items sharing the target's contrast polarity on target-absent trials. A more detailed analysis of eye movements suggested that younger adults were a bit more adept at attending to the smaller set of distractors, which presumably facilitated both overt and covert search. Generalized slowing can account for the age differences in RT, but the fixation number data speak to another mechanism, perhaps increased cautiousness on the part of the elderly when signal strength is low.
