Citation

Harms J. IATSS Res. 1992; 16(1): 35-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

To present two experiments investigated the relationship between subjects cognitive load, driving speed, and task performance in a driving simulator. Subjects were presented with different types of visual stimuli (color-spots versus names) and different types of practice (varied versus consistent practice). The number of stimuli was found to influence all aspects of the subjects performance (driving speed, task performance, and calculation time) in varied practice conditions whereas the results from consistent practice conditions were less clear-cut. A simple variation in similarity between the color target and nontarget failed to influence any aspect of the subjects performance, whereas, the number of items affected the subjects driving speed and performance much the same way in conditions of varied and consistent practice, except with consistent practice, subjects cognitive load was not affected by the number of items. In both experiments increased task demands were associated with low driving speed and with a decrease in subjects general performance, but variation in the subjects cognitive load was observed only in varied practice conditions.