Change Detection Performance Under Divided Attention with Dynamic Driving Scenarios

This study investigated the effect of cognitive load on the relationship between confidence in detecting changes and actual change detection performance. Two experiments simulated glancing away from the roadway by periodically blanking the driver’s view for one second. Experiments were conducted in a driving simulator where participants were asked to detect changes in the location and appearance of other vehicles while driving on a multi-lane suburban roadway. In addition, cognitive load was imposed using messages that participants were asked to listen to and answer questions about. Participants’ sensitivity (d’) to vehicle changes was calculated and compared with subjective ratings of confidence in detecting those changes. Results indicated a positive relationship between d’ and confidence, suggesting that participants were aware of the factors that influenced their change-detection performance. However, the strength of the relationship was situation-dependent. The strength of the relationship decreased when the detection task was more difficult and in the presence of cognitive load.