A performance analysis of In-Car Music engagement as an indication of driver distraction and risk

Drivers engage in a host of driving-unrelated tasks while on the road. They listen to music, sing-along, and accompany songs by pounding-out drum-kicks and syncopated rhythms on the steering wheel. However, there is controversy over in-cabin music: Does background music facilitate driver performance via increased arousal leading to more focused concentration, or cause distraction placing drivers at greater risk. In an effort to shed light on the debate, the current study evaluated music engagement by employing Music Performance Analyses with audio recordings from three simulated driving conditions. The results indicate that as the perceptual demands of the primary driving task increased, the secondary music activity was hampered, and subsequently sub-optimal vocal and percussive performances were demonstrated consisting of intonation errors, rhythmic inaccuracy, lack of synchrony, inconsistent and unstable temporal flow, neglect of text, and lyric replacement. The findings seem to point out that drivers allocate greater reserves to music than previously considered, and as drivers do not withdraw altogether from music engagement under high-demand driving conditions, driving may be under-resourced. Exploring active music engagement while driving might assist traffic safety researchers in decoding the effects of In-Car Music on driver behavior.     

Investigation of drivers’ thresholds of a subjectively accepted driving performance with a focus on automated driving

Lately, the development and implementation of automated driving moved to the center of interest in the automotive industry. In this context, one of the central issues – the configuration of adequate trajectories – is mainly tackled using a technical approach. However, it appears that a technically ideal driving performance does not necessarily coincide with the drivers’ subjective preferences. This study strives to determine thresholds of a subjectively accepted driving performance regarding lateral vehicle control. A second objective is to analyze the influence of selected personal and situational factors on these thresholds. An empirical online survey with 161 participants rating video sequences of driving performances was conducted. The video sequences differed not only with regard to the lateral offset of the ego-vehicle but also concerning the weather (sun/rain) and traffic conditions (existence/driving behavior of oncoming traffic). Additionally, the participants’ driving experience and sensation seeking were considered in the data evaluation. To analyze the data, binary logistic regression analyses were calculated. They revealed that the subjective evaluation of driving performances varies primarily depending on the lateral offset of both the ego-vehicle and the oncoming traffic. The results indicate that regarding the lateral offset certain thresholds of subjectively accepted driving performances do exist. Regarding the development of automated driving systems, two issues need to be considered in order to ultimately guarantee user acceptance. First, the subjective thresholds need to be integrated into the systems’ trajectory planning. Second, the oncoming traffic’s driving behavior has to be considered.     

Effect of electronic device use while driving on cardiovascular reactivity

Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death in people ages 5–34 in the US, and secondary task engagement, such as talking on a cell phone, is a leading contributor to motor vehicle collisions. The negative effects of secondary task engagement on driving performance has become a prominent recent topic of study given the increasing amount of time drivers engage in distracted driving. However, few studies have examined the effects of secondary task engagement while driving on health related outcomes such as cardiovascular reactivity. Cardiovascular reactivity, as measured by heart rate and blood pressure, has been used in previous studies as a means of measuring effort in task engagement as well as a means to predict cardiovascular disease and stroke. This study investigates the effect of secondary task (talking on a cell phone, texting, and driving with no task) while driving in a simulator on cardiovascular reactivity. Using difference scores between baseline (a period of inactivity) and stimulus (driving with no task and driving with secondary tasks), a repeated measures analysis of variance using a mixed model approach was used to determine the effect of secondary task on cardiovascular reactivity. Findings indicated that talking on a cell phone while driving significantly increased cardiovascular reactivity via heart rate and blood pressure compared to driving with no task. Texting while driving did not differ significantly from driving with no task. This study demonstrates the need for more research on the long term effects of secondary tasks while driving on cardiovascular reactivity and for assessing the risks associated with secondary task use while driving on developing cardiovascular disease or stroke.     

Effects of Share the Keys (STK), a comprehensive,behavioral-based training program for parents and new teen drivers in New Jersey

The New Jersey Graduated Driver License (GDL) restrictions were updated in 2010 with changes that included a more active role of parents monitoring practice driving with their teens. In addition to extending the driving phases, there were new curfew and passenger limit restrictions. Teen drivers were also required to use red decals on license plates to identify themselves as inexperienced drivers. The Division of Highway Traffic Safety had partnered with the Motor Vehicle Commission in the past to produce practice driving guides for parents of teen drivers, but recognized the need to support this type of informational campaign with an educational program for helping parents to understand changes in the GDL and recognize the importance of their role in the GDL monitoring process. In 2010, the New Jersey Parent/Teen Driver Orientation program was developed to educate parents of teen drivers on the new GDL restrictions and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) findings concerning the importance of parenting roles in teen driver safety. Additional resources were incorporated into the orientation that included the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) community based information and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) parent-teen driver contracts.This community-based training, known as the New Jersey Parent/Teen Driver Orientation was later renamed Share the Keys, and had been developed for the state as a component of the New Jersey Highway Safety grant received by Kean University. The comprehensive program was designed to engage parents, teens, educators, and law enforcement in the teen driving process and help parents to understand how personal parenting styles and engagement may impact teen crash risk and compliance with the GDL restrictions. Local representatives from traffic safety and law enforcement teamed with school officials and driver education teachers to present programs in their communities. The evaluation process was built into the program as a pre-survey administered at the beginning of the session, a post-survey completed directly afterward, and a voluntary follow-up survey completed on line or mailed, beginning six months later.Evidence from the first year showed that parents maintained a significant level of engagement throughout the GDL process with their teen drivers. However, findings did establish the need to further examine why Authoritative parenting styles had declined, especially since this parenting approach was considered in the literature as most effective in reducing teen crash risks. Therefore, the scope of this study was broadened to a three year effort that reached over 2800 parents and investigated behavioral outcomes impacted by Share the Keys. While comparisons made between driving phases and parenting styles had yielded no significant results, changes within parenting style scores were shown to be effective over time. The reported levels of Permissive and Uninvolved parents remained consistent throughout all three driving phases, while Authoritarian parenting peaked during the Probationary phase, and Authoritative parenting was noted as highest once teens earned their license.     

Rôle de l’émotion dans l’acceptabilité d’un produit : évaluation des composantes cognitive,motivationnelle et subjective

To anticipate a product commercial success, companies aim to ensure that product's characteristics are involving users and triggering a positive first user experience as well as all along product's life span. Among these characteristics, triggering users’ emotions is particularly relevant. This article aims to present the different approaches integrating the emotion generated by products. In order to illustrate the emotional potential of certain products a selection of 14 photographs of products was evaluated by 87 participants. Results reveal a significant correlation between cognitive, motivational and subjective components of emotions. A reflexion about the integration of cognitive appraisal assessment and motivational action readiness evaluation into a wilder emotional model is provided. Thus, emotions triggered by a product appear to be a stake for designers and an important variable to introduce in acceptability or user experience models.     

Why theatre-based research works? Psychological theories from behind the curtain

While many scholars have demonstrated the effectiveness of theatre-based knowledge mobilization, fewer studies have examined its psychological dimensions. This article examines some psychological theories that may account for the success behind theatre-based knowledge mobilization. Drawing from the Canadian Experience Project, a study about the labor market challenges of skilled immigrant workers, we show how theatre-based research dissemination efforts attempt to achieve optimal stress by using aesthetic distance processes. We maintain that this psychological capacity to attune to audience members, especially evident in forum theatre, makes theatre a particularly effective means for knowledge mobilization.     

抑郁个体对社会反馈的加工：研究现状及存在问题

抑郁症伴随着严重的社会功能障碍。本文以“社会反馈”这一重要社会性信息为切入点,综述了抑郁症患者及抑郁倾向人群对社会反馈的体验、期待及情绪调节障碍的研究现状,发现抑郁个体对社会奖赏存在快感缺失,对社会排斥、社会拒绝等负性反馈表现出过敏化,对社会奖赏的期待降低,且可能存在情绪调节困难。目前此领域存在社会与非社会反馈神经机制的异同不清楚、异常脑区与社会反馈加工障碍的因果关系难以确定以及无法排除抑郁症患者和抑郁倾向人群存在不同社会反馈加工模式的可能性等问题。     

驾驶经验和危险类型对年轻驾驶员危险知觉的影响

结合反应时和眼动测量方法,采用驾驶经验分组2（年轻新手驾驶员,年轻有经验驾驶员）× 危险类型2（明显危险,隐藏危险）的混合实验设计,探索年轻驾驶员危险知觉的经验优势是否随着危险类型的不同而变化。使用一个基于真实交通情境视频的驾驶员危险知觉任务,对27名年轻新手驾驶员和22名年轻有经验驾驶员进行测试,并使用Tobbi T120记录眼动数据。结果发现,总体上,年轻新手驾驶员对潜在道路危险的反应次数比年轻有经验驾驶员更少,反应时间也更慢。两组驾驶员反应时间的差异,随着危险类型的不同而来源于不同的加工阶段。具体来说：一方面,年轻新手驾驶员对明显危险的反应时间慢,是因为他们对该类危险的评估时间长。另一方面,年轻新手驾驶员对隐藏危险的反应时间慢,是因为他们对该类危险的识别时间长。两组驾驶员对危险的平均注视时间受测试中危险类型的影响但不受驾驶经验的影响。这些研究结果表明,在对年轻新手驾驶员进行危险知觉训练或测试时,应重视危险类型对他们危险知觉的影响。     

Perceptual experience shapes our ability to categorize faces by national origin: A new other-race effect

People are better at recognizing own-race than other-race faces. This other-race effect has been argued to be the result of perceptual expertise, whereby face-specific perceptual mechanisms are tuned through experience. We designed new tasks to determine whether other-race effects extend to categorizing faces by national origin. We began by selecting sets of face stimuli for these tasks that are typical in appearance for each of six nations (three Caucasian, three Asian) according to people from those nations (Study 1). Caucasian and Asian participants then categorized these faces by national origin (Study 2). Own-race faces were categorized more accurately than other-race faces. In contrast, Asian American participants, with more extensive other-race experience than the first Asian group, categorized other-race faces better than own-race faces, demonstrating a reversal of the other-race effect. Therefore, other-race effects extend to the ability to categorize faces by national origin, but only if participants have greater perceptual experience with own-race, than other-race faces. Study 3 ruled out non-perceptual accounts by showing that Caucasian and Asian faces were sorted more accurately by own-race than other-race participants, even in a sorting task without any explicit labelling required. Together, our results demonstrate a new other-race effect in sensitivity to national origin of faces that is linked to perceptual expertise.     

The everyday dynamics of rumination and worry: precipitant events and affective consequences

ABSTRACT

Rumination and worry are two perseverative, negatively valenced thought processes that characterise depressive and anxiety disorders. Despite significant research interest, little is known about the everyday precipitants and consequences of rumination and worry. Using an experience sampling methodology, we examined and compared rumination and worry with respect to their relations to daily events and affective experience. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), co-occurring MDD–GAD, or no diagnosis carried an electronic device for one week and reported on rumination, worry, significant events, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA). Across the clinical groups, occurrences of everyday events predicted subsequent increases in rumination, but not worry. Further, higher momentary levels of rumination, but not worry, predicted subsequent decreases in PA and increases in NA. Thus, in these clinical groups, rumination was more susceptible to daily events and produced stronger affective changes over time. We discuss implications for theory and clinical intervention.