JIBO HE, JASON S. MCCARLEY

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Mind Wandering Behind the Wheel

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Driver distraction/ inattention2

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Secondary-task distraction3

Language production reduces the deviation of lane position. (Brown, Tickner, & Simmonds, 1969)

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Secondary-task distraction4

Word generation task increases pursuit tracking error. (Strayer & Johnson, 2001)

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Secondary-task distraction5

Visual and spatial imaginary task decreases visual inspection window size. (Recarte & Nunes, 2000)

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Mind-wandering is distracting too

Source: Regan, Lee, Young (2008)04/19/23

Mind-wandering is distracting too

Source: Regan, Lee, Young (2008) 04/19/23

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Mind-wandering is distracting too8

Poor drivers experience more cognitive failures (Larson, Alderton, Neideffer, & Underhill, 1997; Larson & Merritt, 1991)

High risk drivers tend to mind wander (Violanti &

Marshall, 1996)

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What’s mind wandering?9

Attention lapseAbsent-minded lapseSpontaneous cognitive eventDaydreamingStimulus-independent thoughtIntrusive thoughtTask unrelated thoughtSpontaneous thought

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What’s mind wandering?10

A decoupled spontaneous mental stateExecutive attention is directed away from

current task and context (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006; Smallwood, et al., 2008;

Antrobus, et al., 1970)

Focuses on self-relevant concerns (Klinger, 1999, 2009)

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Mind Wanders more frequently in practiced task (Teasdale, et al., 1995)

Mind wandering utilizes central executive

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Mind wandering utilizes central executive

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Mind wanders more frequently under low information presentation rates (Antrobus, 1968)

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Mind wandering utilizes central executive

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Mind wandering activated the default network region and executive network region (Christoff et al., 2009)

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Mind wandering impairs performance14

Reduced brain activity prior mind wandering (Smallwood, et al, 2008)

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Mind wandering impairs performance15

Mind wandering impairsoSignal detection (Robertson,et al., 1997)

oReading comprehension (Schooler, et al., 2005)

oVigilance (Giambra, 1995)

oMemory (Carriere, et al., 2008)

Driving involves oSignal detectionoVigilance

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Mind wandering impairs performance16

Cognitive distraction impairs drivingo Working memory task (Alm & Nilsson, 1995; Briem & Hedman, 1995)

o Mental arithmetic tasks (McKnight & McKnight, 1993)

o Sentence judgment task (Brown, Tickner, & Simmonds, 1969)

o Word generation task (Strayer & Johnston, 2001)

o Visual and spatial imaginary task (Recarte & Nunes, 2000)

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Mind wandering causes longer fixation duration, and more erratic eye scanning patterns (Reichle, Reineberg, & Schooler, 2010)

Mind wandering impairs performance

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Mind wandering impairs driving ?

Source: Regan, Lee, Young (2008)

Research Purpose

Does mind wandering impair driving?

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Experiment Design

2 * 2 Within subject designDriving difficulty: no vs. high windMental state: attentive vs. mind wandering

18 subjects 11 female, 7 maleAge : M= 22, SD = 3.3

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Experiment Design

Self-report of mental state (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006)

“Press the button when you find yourself zoning-out”

Dependent measuresEye movementLateral and longitudinal vehicle control

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High fidelity driving simulator

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(a). Perspective view (b). Orthographic view

Boring and Easy Routes

Kane, Brown, McVay, Silvia, Myin-Germeys, & Kwapil, 200704/19/23

Hypothesis24

Mind wandering frequency

Lateral vehicle controlo Lane position

Longitudinal vehicle controlo Velocityo Coherence analysis

Eye scanning patternso Eye positiono # of mirror checking

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Mind Wandering Frequency25

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Lateral vehicle control26

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Longitudinal vehicle control27

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Longitudinal vehicle control

Coherence analysis of velocity (Brookhuis, Karel , De Waard,

Dick and Mulder, Ben, 1994)

o Coherence coupling

o Phase shift Delay to adapt

o Modulus Response gain

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Longitudinal vehicle control29

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Standard deviation of horizontal eye position

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# of mirror checking31

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Summary32

Performance changes for mindless drivingo Poorer longitudinal vehicle controlo Shift of lane positiono Reduced visual inspection windowo # of mirror checking

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Mind-wanderingSecondary-task distraction

Poorer car following performance

Shift of lane positionReduced visual

inspection window# of mirror checking

Increased headway distance and decreased speed (Alm &

Nilsson, 1995).

No change (Alm & Nilsson, 1995)

or better lateral vehicle control (Kubose, et al.,

2006)

Narrowing of visual attention

Frequency of mirror checks (Recarte & Nunes, 2000, 2003)

Discussions33

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Mind-wanderingSecondary-task distraction

Intentional compensation

Unconscious compensation ?

Intentional compensation?

Unconscious compensation

Discussions34

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Further study

Research questionso Will mindless driving impair longitudinal vehicle

control (eg. headway distance, velocity etc.) ?o Will performance differ for mind wandering inside vs.

outside of awareness?Methodso Car following paradigm without trailing vehicleo Probe-caught vs. self-caught mind wandering.

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Conclusions

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Thank You

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