In this paper, the cost of using an in-vehicle information system (IVIS) is quantified by measuring its effect on the detection of peripheral visual stimuli. The study also assesses whether impairment is modality specific or relies on general attentional resources by comparing the effect of IVIS interaction on signal detection in the visual, auditory and tactile modalities. Finally, to assess the effect of IVIS modality on detection across the three modalities, signal detection during interaction with a nonvisual IVIS was compared with that of a visual IVIS. During a simulated driving experiment, participants responded to one of three detection tasks and the effect of IVIS interaction on these detection tasks was measured. Reduced performance in the detection tasks was assumed to indicate a decline in drivers' ability to handle sudden events in the driving task. Results showed that response time to all detection tasks increased by around 200 ms when drivers performed the IVIS tasks, as compared with baseline driving. Analyses of variance and comparison of effect sizes showed the effects of these two IVISs to be the same across the three detection tasks. These findings indicate that the detection tasks are useful for quantifying the safety of an IVIS during driving. The absence of a difference in signal detection by modality suggests that performance on these tasks is not modality specific and relies on general attentional resources.
Samenvatting