Citation

Jagacinski RJ, Hammond GM, Rizzi E. Hum. Factors 2017; 59(5): 796-810.

Affiliation

Ohio State University, Columbus.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0018720817695193

PMID

28704632

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Use perceptual-motor responses to perturbations to reveal the spatio-temporal detail of memory for the recent past and attention to preview when participants track a winding roadway. Background Memory of the recently passed roadway can be inferred from feedback control models of the participants' manual movement patterns. Similarly, attention to preview of the upcoming roadway can be inferred from feedforward control models of manual movement patterns.

METHOD Perturbation techniques were used to measure these memory and attention functions.

RESULTS In a laboratory tracking task, the bandwidth of lateral roadway deviations was found to primarily influence memory for the past roadway rather than attention to preview. A secondary auditory/verbal/vocal memory task resulted in higher velocity error and acceleration error in the tracking task but did not affect attention to preview. Attention to preview was affected by the frequency pattern of sinusoidal perturbations of the roadway.

CONCLUSION Perturbation techniques permit measurement of the spatio-temporal span of memory and attention to preview that affect tracking a winding roadway. They also provide new ways to explore goal-directed forgetting and spatially distributed attention in the context of movement. More generally, these techniques provide sensitive measures of individual differences in cognitive aspects of action. Application Models of driving behavior and assessment of driving skill may benefit from more detailed spatio-temporal measurement of attention to preview.

Language: en

Keywords

attentional processes; control theory; driver behavior; dual task; perceptual-motor performance