A Literature Review of Inattentional and Change Blindness in Transportation

Inattentional blindness refers to situations in which a person is unaware of a change that is occurring because attention is not currently focused on what is changing. Change blindness occurs when a change takes place during an eye movement or blink that is not noticed. These phenomena pose a serious hazard in transportation, particularly when unexpected changes occur, such as a child running out into the road from between parked cars, or if an air traffic controller fails to detect an aircraft deviating from the assigned clearance. Failure to detect unexpected changes can have devastating consequences. The literature in these fields over the last 10 years is reviewed with a particular focus on transportation issues. Laboratory and field-based studies are viewed, including research on theoretical issues, underlying mechanisms, biological bases, as well as mitigation approaches. The emerging view is that these phenomena are in part driven by prior experience and expectations for what is likely to happen next. Research on mitigation of inattentional and change blindness show promise for developing systems that help human operators to overcome the dangers posed. Recommendations are provided for further research in this area.

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• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/8763
• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. Department of Transportation

  Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142

  Federal Railroad Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hannon, Daniel J
• Publication Date: 2009-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 63p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attention; Attention lapses; Blindness; Cognition; Drivers; Eye movements; Human factors in crashes; Operators (Persons)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Blink
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Transportation (General); I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01173217
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: DTOS5908X99094
• Contract Numbers: DOT-VNTSC-OST-10-01
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 16 2010 12:42PM