Measuring Distraction at the Levels of Tactical and Strategic Control: The Limits of Capacity-Based Measures for Revealing Unsafe Visual Sampling Models

摘要

The control theory of driving suggests that driver distraction can be analyzed as abreakdown of control at three levels. Common approach for analyzing distractionexperimentally is to utilize capacity-based measures to assess distraction at the level ofoperational control. Three driving simulation experiments with 61 participants wereorganized to evaluate which kind of measures could be used to analyze drivers' tacticalvisual sampling models and the related effects of distraction while searching textualinformation on in-car display. The effects of two different text types were evaluated. Theutilized capacity-based measures seemed to be insufficient for revealing participants'tactical behaviors or effects of text type. The measures of workload or performance did notindicate reliably the differences found between participants' visual sampling strategies orwhich text type is better for enabling safer task timing behaviors. Visual sampling measuresdid indicate effects of text type on participants' tactical abilities. Differences in participants'visual sampling strategies leading to different levels of systematicity in visual behaviorscan explain the variances in visual sampling efficiency. Displays encouraging unsystematicglance allocation behaviors were found potentially the most distracting in relation to safevisual sampling of in-vehicle displays.