TY - JOUR
T1 - Two visual systems in monitoring of dynamic traffic
T2 - Effects of visual disruption
AU - Zheng, Xianjun Sam
AU - McConkie, George W.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from General Motors to the second author. We would like to thank Yu-chi Tai for helping data collection and data analysis. We also thank the special issue editor Linda Boyle and two other reviewers for their helpful comments.
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - Studies from neurophysiology and neuropsychology provide support for two separate object- and location-based visual systems, ventral and dorsal. In the driving context, a study was conducted using a change detection paradigm to explore drivers' ability to monitor the dynamic traffic flow, and the effects of visual disruption on these two visual systems. While driving, a discrete change, such as vehicle location, color, or identity, was occasionally made in one of the vehicles on the road ahead of the driver. Experiment results show that without visual disruption, all changes were detected very well; yet, these equally perceivable changes were disrupted differently by a brief blank display (150 ms): the detection of location changes was especially reduced. The disruption effects were also bigger for the parked vehicle compared to the moving ones. The findings support the different roles for two visual systems in monitoring the dynamic traffic: the "where", dorsal system, tracks vehicle spatiotemporal information on perceptual level, encoding information in a coarse and transient manner; whereas the "what", ventral system, monitors vehicles' featural information, encoding information more accurately and robustly. Both systems work together contributing to the driver's situation awareness of traffic. Benefits and limitations of using the driving simulation are also discussed.
AB - Studies from neurophysiology and neuropsychology provide support for two separate object- and location-based visual systems, ventral and dorsal. In the driving context, a study was conducted using a change detection paradigm to explore drivers' ability to monitor the dynamic traffic flow, and the effects of visual disruption on these two visual systems. While driving, a discrete change, such as vehicle location, color, or identity, was occasionally made in one of the vehicles on the road ahead of the driver. Experiment results show that without visual disruption, all changes were detected very well; yet, these equally perceivable changes were disrupted differently by a brief blank display (150 ms): the detection of location changes was especially reduced. The disruption effects were also bigger for the parked vehicle compared to the moving ones. The findings support the different roles for two visual systems in monitoring the dynamic traffic: the "where", dorsal system, tracks vehicle spatiotemporal information on perceptual level, encoding information in a coarse and transient manner; whereas the "what", ventral system, monitors vehicles' featural information, encoding information more accurately and robustly. Both systems work together contributing to the driver's situation awareness of traffic. Benefits and limitations of using the driving simulation are also discussed.
KW - Driving
KW - Driving simulation
KW - Situation awareness
KW - Traffic monitoring
KW - Visual disruption
KW - Visual systems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77950325686&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77950325686&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aap.2009.10.001
DO - 10.1016/j.aap.2009.10.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 20380921
AN - SCOPUS:77950325686
SN - 0001-4575
VL - 42
SP - 921
EP - 928
JO - Accident Analysis and Prevention
JF - Accident Analysis and Prevention
IS - 3
ER -