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…

Impaired conflict resolution and vigilance in euthymic bipolar disorder.

Abstract Difficulty attending is a common deficit of euthymic bipolar patients. However, it is not known whether this is a global attentional deficit or relates to a specific attentional network. According to the attention network approach, attention is best understood in terms of three functionally and neuroanatomically distinct networks-alerting, orienting, and executive control. In this study, we explored whether and which of the three attentional networks are altered in euthymic Bipolar Disorder (BD). A sample of euthymic BD patients and age-matched healthy controls completed the Attention Network Test for Interactions and Vigilance (ANTI-V) that provided not only a measure of orienting…

Assessing individual differences in driving inattention: Adaptation and validation of the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale to Spain

The Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES) is a self-reported questionnaire to assess individual differences in the proneness to make attentional errors while driving. The aims of the current work are to adapt the original Argentinean version of the ARDES to the culture, language, traffic regulations and driving habits of Spain and provide new validity evidence of the cross-cultural equivalence of the scale. In the first step of the validation process, five external independent experts reviewed the original ARDES-Argentina and proposed modifications, adapted to the culture, language, traffic regulations and driving habits in Spain. Secondly, a sample of 320 drivers completed the ada…

Development and validation of the Spanish Hazard Perception Test.

The aim of the current study is to develop and obtain valid evidence for a hazard perception test suitable for the Spanish driving population. To obtain valid evidence to support the use of the test, the effect of hazardous and quasi-hazardous situations on the participants' hazard prediction is analyzed and the pattern of results for drivers with different driving experience--that is, learner, novice, and expert drivers and reoffender vs. nonoffender drivers--is compared. Potentially hazardous situations are those that develop without involving any real hazard (i.e., the driver did not actually have to decelerate or make any evasive maneuver to avoid a potential collision). The current stu…

READ-COGvid: A Database From Reading and Media Habits During COVID-19 Confinement in Spain and Italy

Executive and arousal vigilance decrement in the context of the attentional networks: The ANTI-Vea task

Vigilance is generally understood as the ability to detect infrequent critical events through long time periods. In tasks like the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), participants tend to detect fewer events across time, a phenomenon known as vigilance decrement. However, vigilance might also involve sustaining a tonic arousal level. In the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), the vigilance decrement corresponds to an increment across time in both mean and variability of reaction time. New Method: The present study aimed to develop a single task Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance executive and arousal components (ANTI-Vea) to simultaneously assess both components…

Phasic and tonic alerting in mild cognitive impairment: A preliminary study.

In this preliminary study we assessed the functioning of the different attentional networks in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, taking as theoretical framework the Posner's cognitive neuroscience approach. Two groups of participants were tested in a single short experiment: 20 MCI patients (6 amnestic, 6 non-amnestic and 8 multiple-domain) and 18 healthy matched controls (HC). For attentional assessment we used a version of the Attention Network Test (the ANTI-V) that provided not only a score of the orienting, the executive, and the alerting networks and their interactions, but also an independent measure of vigilance (tonic alerting). The results showed that all subtypes of MCI p…

Assessment of proneness to distraction: English adaptation and validation of the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES) and cross-cultural equivalence

Abstract Prior research developed the Attention-Related Driving Errors Scale (ARDES), a 19-item questionnaire aimed at evaluating the drivers’ predisposition to attentional error, and also provided validity evidence of ARDES measures across two countries: Argentina and Spain. In the current work we adapt the Spanish version of the ARDES to the English language and the culture, traffic regulations and driving habits of the UK, and then provide new evidence of the cross-cultural equivalence of the scale. First, an improved forward and backward translation design was used to translate the Spanish ARDES into English. A committee-approach review process was also performed during the translation …

Are drivers’ attentional lapses associated with the functioning of the neurocognitive attentional networks and with cognitive failure in everyday life?

Abstract Driver distraction and inattention are considered among the major contributing factors in road traffic crashes. One of the most widely used tools to study drivers’ attentional lapses and other types of aberrant behaviour is the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). In the present work, further evidence of the feasibility of the DBQ to study driver inattention is provided. The relationships between the DBQ and both a computer-based neurocognitive test on attentional performance (the Attention Network Test for Interactions and Vigilance, ANTI-V) and a self-reported measure of cognitive failure (the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, CFQ) are analysed. Results show that attentional lap…

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…

Persistent traffic offenders. Alcohol consumption and personality as predictors of driving disqualification

espanolLa seguridad vial es un importante problema social. Muchos accidentes se deben al incumplimiento de las normas de trafico. Las infracciones graves o reiteradas se sancionan por la via administrativa o judicial y en ambos casos las sanciones pueden suponer la perdida del permiso de conducir. Este articulo explora la relevancia del alcohol y la personalidad como factores predictivos. El objetivo del estudio es determinar si el comportamiento delictivo de los infractores persistentes esta relacionado con sus caracteristicas de personalidad y patrones de consumo de alcohol. Se utilizo una muestra de 358 conductores: 232 infractores persistentes, a los que les habia sido retirado el carne…

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…

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…

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 …

The moderating effects of vigilance on other components of attentional functioning.

Abstract Background Previous research suggested that vigilance may moderate the functioning of other attentional components. However, vigilance is usually neglected when comparing the attentional functioning between groups of clinical and/or healthy participants. New method We combined data from several studies using the Attention Network Test for Interactions and Vigilance (ANTI-V), which includes a vigilance measure plus phasic alertness, orienting, and executive control scores. We estimated, for the first time, the reliability of the vigilance performance indices in the ANTI-V, by analyzing split-half correlations of 10,000 permutations of the trials. In addition, we tested whether a dif…