Processing of Flashing Displays by Younger and Older Drivers

摘要

This laboratory study was planned as a follow-up to an earlier study thatinvestigated possible automatic processing of a flashing arrow (Schumann et al., 1995). In contrast to the previous experiment, only the arrow tail was flashing. The main research question was whether there is evidence for automatic processing of flashing, and if so, whether to use flashing as a means of assisting older drivers in extracting relevant information. Two groups of subjects participated in this experiment: twelve older drivers with a mean age of 69, and twelve younger drivers with a mean age of 25. Subjects had to perform a two-alternative, forced-choice task, which involved responding to an arrow pointing either left or right. The response time was measured for different arrow presentation modes (steady vs. flashing tail) and distracter conditions (present or absent). The results strongly suggest that flashing does not lead to an automatic processing of the stimulus information, and therefore flashing is not of any particular benefit for the elderly drivers. Although flashing of the arrow tail can enhance the salience of the arrow, the observer still must integrate features of the arrow in a controlled manner. Therefore, age-related slowing is expected, as can be seen in the results of this experiment.