• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
UNIVERSITY OF WAH.DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY.RESEARCH ARTICLES.TOPIC:SPARE MENTAL CAPACITY.SUBMITTED BY:HAFSA AFAQ.SUBMITTED TO:MAM ROKAYA.COURSE TITLE:
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY.
 
BS(HONS) III, PSYCHOLOGY.AGE-RELATED VARIATIONS IN DRIVER MENTALWORKLOADDURING MID-BLOCK AND INTERSECTION TRAVEL
ByBen J. SchlorholtzB.A., Kansas State University, 2002A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of ArtsDepartment of PsychologyThe University of South Dakota2006
ABSTRACT: -
Population trends continue to show that the number of drivers over the age of 65 issubstantially increasing. Because of this, it is imperative to understand how this population surge may impact the driving community. Analysis of crash statistics suggeststhat older drivers are much more likely to be involved in intersection crashes than any
 
other type of crash. It was hypothesized that this increased likelihood might be related toan overall decrease in availability of information processing resources specific to the task of driving (i.e. visual-spatial resources). To investigate this issue, the current studyutilized a subsidiary task paradigm to measure how the availability of spare mentalresources fluctuates relative to age during real world driving. Both young and old driversreceived secondary task probes [either visual-spatial (i.e. a clock task) or verbal (i.e. amental arithmetic task)] while traveling through both mid-block locations (lowcomplexity) and turning through intersections (high complexity). As expected, older drivers showed slower response times than younger drivers when performing the visual-spatial task. However the current sample of older drivers did not show any significantslowing in response time when traveling through intersections compared to mid-block sections. Instead, a 3-way interaction involving location, secondary task, and the order of secondary task presentation was observed. The data suggest that by the second half of theexperiment, drivers had learned to associate upcoming intersections with potentialstimulus probes. In this half of the experiment, independent of driver age, response timeswere actually faster at intersections than at mid-block probes. These results are importantto the workload literature in the sense that they provide information regarding the potential sensitivity of discrete versus continuous subsidiary task probes.
INTRODUCTION: -
Population trends continue to show that the number of adults over age 65 is increasingdramatically. Researchers predict that this population surge will result in both an increasein the number of licensed drivers and an increase in the number of annual miles driven by
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...