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Driving distractionsPsychology professor Richard Backs and his students at CMU are using brain wave patterns and heart activity to assess car drivers’ attention behind the wheel. Backs plans to make roadways safer with his research that could ultimately help car companies develop better technology to minimize driver attention failures and design dashboard devices that require less attention to operate. “We are simulating how people use their attention while driving to better understand distractions such as navigation systems, cell phones and other portable wireless devices,” Backs says. “In normal situations, our driving performance is not affected by these distractions. We may think that we are driving safely, but physiological measures show how our attention is actually focused on these other devices. Through our research, we hope to learn how to minimize distractions from these types of devices.” This series of psycho-physiological tests of driver responses are being conducted using a desktop driver simulator provided by General Motors Corp. A key focus of Backs’ research is on how driver attention changes as people age, focusing on adults 65 years and older. He also plans to expand his research to focus on adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and other diagnosed attention disorders, to learn how these disorders affect their attention while driving and help to develop remediation for them. “There are so many things that we can do with this research,” Backs says. “Not only do we want to understand how we use our attention as we drive, we also want to develop programs to educate people on how to better distribute their attention while driving.” • |
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