Increasing the default interletter spacing of words can help drivers to read traffic signs at longer distances
Would an increase in the default interletter spacing improve the legibility of words in traffic signs? Previous evidence on traffic sign design and recent studies on the cognitive processes involved in visual word recognition have provided conflicting results. The present work examined whether an increase in the default interletter spacing would improve the search of a word in direction traffic signs. To achieve this objective, twenty-two drivers participated in a driving simulation experiment. They followed a highway route and indicated whether a target place name was present among a set of distractors shown on direction traffic signs along the route. We compared the default interletter sp…
Messages beyond the phone: Processing variable message signs while attending hands-free phone calls.
We examined the effects of different types of cognitive distraction coming from a hands-free phone conversation on the processing of information provided by variable message signs (VMS), on driving performance indicators, and on a physiological index of mental effort (heart rate). Participants drove a route in a driving simulator and had to respond to VMS messages under three conditions: no-distraction, visuospatial distraction (attending phone calls with questions inducing visuospatial processing), and conceptual distraction (attending phone calls with questions requiring semantic memory). Results showed more errors responding to VMS messages in the visuospatial distraction condition. In a…
Lectura Fácil” más allá del ámbito educativo: ¿podemos facilitar la lectura de señales de tráfico durante la conducción?
Javier Roca, Pilar Tejero, Beatriz Insa, Marina Pi y Ruth Lugo (miembros de la ERI-Lectura de la Universitat de València) presentan los resultados de su investigación sobre una actividad de lectura en la vida adulta, la de señales de tráfico, en las Jornades Lectura Fàcil de la Generalitat Valenciana organizadas por la ERI-Lectura de la Universitat de València el 18-19 mayo de 2018. http://ir.uv.es/4zhj7IR
Rear-view mirror use, driver alertness and road type: An empirical study using EEG measures
Abstract The use of rear-view mirrors has been suggested as a good behavioural indicator of driver alertness in traffic situations (Brookhuis, K. A., De Vries, G., & De Waard, D. (1991). The effects of mobile telephoning on driving performance. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 23 (4), 309–316). In general terms, drivers look in the mirrors to find information and adapt their driving to traffic variations. This paper aims to analyse the links between time variations in alertness—measured from EEG activity data—and the frequency of rear-view mirror use in a group of drivers, both on motorways and conventional roads. The results point to a direct relationship between alertness level and mirro…
Los colores como claves perceptivas durante la lectura
En español, como en muchas otras ortografías, las palabras escritas están diferenciadas unas de otras mediante la inserción de espacios. El hecho de que haya lenguas que no utilizan espacios, y que añadirlos no mejore la lectura en dichas lenguas (v.g., en thai), relativiza la importancia de los espacios entre palabras. Experimentos recientes en nuestro laboratorio han mostrado que la segmentación perceptiva de las palabras puede conseguirse fácilmente alternando el color de las mismas, sin necesidad de espacios. Ello lleva a re-examinar el papel de los colores en el aprendizaje de la lectura.
Can colours be used to segment words when reading?
Rayner, Fischer, and Pollatsek (1998, Vision Research) demonstrated that reading unspaced text in Indo-European languages produces a substantial reading cost in word identification (as deduced from an increased word-frequency effect on target words embedded in the unspaced vs. spaced sentences) and in eye movement guidance (as deduced from landing sites closer to the beginning of the words in unspaced sentences). However, the addition of spaces between words comes with a cost: nearby words may fall outside high-acuity central vision, thus reducing the potential benefits of parafoveal processing. In the present experiment, we introduced a salient visual cue intended to facilitate the process…
Driving on the motorway: the effect of alternating speed on driver's activation level and mental effort
When most of the driving tasks are performed automatically, a driver's level of alertness may decline, as has been pointed out in the study of the phenomenon called 'highway hypnosis'. One possible countermeasure is to periodically vary the speed (Wertheim 1978), but the authors have not found any studies that directly assess the effectiveness of this countermeasure. The objective of our study has been to provide empirical evidence regarding the effects of this strategy on the level of driver activation on a motorway route in real traffic. In the present study activation level as indexed by a relative measure based on slow EEG activity tended to be significantly higher when speed was modifi…
Legibility of Text and Pictograms in Variable Message Signs: Can Single-Word Messages Outperform Pictograms?
The current research shows the advantage of single-word messages in the particular case of variable message signs (VMSs) with a high aspect ratio.Early studies on traffic sign design proposed that pictorial information would advantage equivalent text messages in static signs.We used a driving simulator to present individually 36 VMSs, showing six words (e.g., "congestion") and six danger signs (e.g., congestion traffic sign). In Experiment 1, 18 drivers read aloud the text or orally identified the pictograms as soon as they could correctly do it. In Experiment 2, a different sample of 18 drivers gave a motor response, according to the meaning of the message. We analyzed the legibility dista…
Accident ahead? Difficulties of drivers with and without reading impairment recognising words and pictograms in variable message signs
A timely and accurate acquisition of the information provided by variable message signs (VMS) can be crucial while driving. In the current study, we assess the difficulties of adults with dyslexia acquiring the information shown in VMS and provide evidence to discuss the controversial use of pictograms as potential countermeasures. Twenty-two adults with dyslexia and 22 matched controls completed a simulated driving session. The legibility of 12 VMS was assessed, including six text messages (e.g. "ACCIDENT") and six single pictograms (e.g. the icon for "accident ahead"). On average, participants with dyslexia started reading text messages when they were closer to the VMS. In addition, while…
Visual Attention, Orthographic Word Recognition, and Executive Functioning in Children With ADHD, Dyslexia, or ADHD + Dyslexia
Objective: The current study examined the differences in visual selective attention, orthographic word recognition, and executive functioning. Method: One hundred and forty Ecuadorian children in third and fifth grades of elementary school (8-10 years old) participated in the study—35 with only dyslexia (DD), 35 with the combined type of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD-C), 35 with disorders (DD + ADHD-C), and 35 typical development children (TD). Results: The Ecuadorian children with DD and/or ADHD-C in this age range usually have difficulties in visual selective attention, and also in orthographic word recognition. The executive functioning results showed that such func…
Early Signs of Emotional Recognition Deficits in Adolescent High-Binge Drinkers
Background: Emotional dysregulation, measured with face recognition tasks, is prevalent in alcohol use disorders (AUD), constituting a risk factor for alcohol use and relapse. It is not clear howev...
Difficulties of Drivers With Dyslexia When Reading Traffic Signs: Analysis of Reading, Eye Gazes, and Driving Performance
A group of adult individuals with dyslexia and a matched group of normally reading individuals participated in a driving simulation experiment. Participants were asked to read the word presented on every direction traffic sign encountered along a route, as far as possible from the sign, maintaining driving performance. Word frequency and word length were manipulated as within-subject factors. We analyzed (a) reading accuracy, (b) how far the sign was when the participant started to give the response, (c) where the participant looked during the time leading up to the response, and (d) the variability of the vehicle’s speed during that time and during driving on similar segments of the route…
Wertheim’s hypothesis on ‘highway hypnosis’: empirical evidence from a study on motorway and conventional road driving
This paper aims to study the phenomenon known as 'highway hypnosis' or 'driving without attention mode', which has been defined as a state showing sleepiness signs and attention slip resulting from driving a motor vehicle for a long period in a highly predictable environment with low event occurrence, this being the case with motorways and very familiar roads [Highway hypnosis: a theoretical analysis. In: Gale, A.G., Brown, I.D., Haslegrave, C.M., Moorhead, I., Taylor, S. (Eds.), Vision in Vehicles-III. Elsevier, North-Holland, pp. 467-472]. According to Wertheim's hypothesis on 'highway hypnosis', long-term driving on motorways and conventional roads, e.g. main roads, secondary roads--impl…
Reading traffic signs while driving: Are linguistic word properties relevant in a complex, dynamic environment?
When driving a vehicle, do we read the words displayed on traffic signs just as we do in more standard conditions? In the driving context, stimulus quality is generally worse, and reading has to be performed at the same time as we are doing other tasks. In the present work, we examined the effects of word frequency and word length on reading in such circumstances. A stimulus presentation mimicking the approach to the traffic sign increased the effect of word frequency, but not the effect of word length, on reading latency. In addition, performing the reading task while driving along a simulated route produced similar results. Therefore, in the context of the driving activity, the advantage …