AUGMENTED FEEDBACK AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRIVER SEARCH AND SCAN PATTERNS

When learning to drive an automobile a student driver receives almost no feed-back as to whether his visual search and scan pattern is excellent, fair or inadequate. In fact, search and scan habits appear to be acquired in a seemingly unconscious manner by most drivers. Recently, however, Mourant and Rockwell have found that novice drivers' eye search patterns are inadequate for the detection of circumstances that may require emergency action. Thus there is the possibility that visual performance training may aid in the development of search and scan patterns of novice drivers. By using a closed circuit television system the eye movements of a novice driver were recorded on a 2.1 mile neighborhood route and a 4.3 mile freeway route. The novice driver was then enrolled in a driver education training program (as was a controlgroup). Before the novice driver drove the neightborhood and freeway routes again he received the following special training. He viewed the search and scan patterns of an experienced driver on the same route on the closed circuit TV sytem. He viewed his own search and scan patterns on the routes. He was given instructions to scan wider in the horizontal direction, to look far ahead of the vehicle, and to sample the vehicle's mirrors more frequently. The novice driver's search and scan patterns were again recorded on the neighborhood and freeway routes. After the novice driver completed his driver education course he again received the special training. Finally, his search and scan patterns were recorded for a third time. The control group of novice drivers showed decreases in terms of eye travel distances per second as they gain driving experience. The driver who received the special training did not. Further examination of the data indicated that the special novice driver scanned wider in the horizontal direction and used his mirrors more frequently than the control group. The results are discussed in terms of a model of visual skill learning. Suggestions are presented for the improvement of driver education programs. (A)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings of the 16th Annual Meeting, Octorber 17-19, 1972.
• Corporate Authors:

  Human Factors Society

  1134 Montana
  Santa Monica, CA  United States  90403
• Authors:
  • Mourant, R R
  • Rockwell, T H
• Publication Date: 0

Media Info

• Pagination: 1 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Control groups; Driver training; Eye movements; Feedback control; Students; Visual perception
• Uncontrolled Terms: Feedback
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00144385
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 31 1977 12:00AM