1. Impact of mind-wandering on visual information processing while driving: An electrophysiological study
- Author
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Jordan Navarro, Alexandra Fort, Fabien Moreau, Guillaume Pepin, Catherine Gabaude, Daniel Ndiaye, Christophe Jallais, Laboratoire Ergonomie et Sciences Cognitives pour les Transports (TS2-LESCOT ), Université Gustave Eiffel, Laboratoire sur la Perception, les Intéractions, les Comportements et la Simulation des usagers de la route et de la rue (COSYS-PICS-L), Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EMC), and Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)
- Subjects
DISTRACTION ,Visual N1 ,media_common.quotation_subject ,050109 social psychology ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS ,050105 experimental psychology ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Event-related potential ,Perception ,Cognitive resource theory ,Distraction ,Mind-wandering ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,SIMULATED DRIVING ,CONDUITE DU VEHICULE ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,TEMPS DE REACTION ,media_common ,[SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior ,05 social sciences ,REACTION TIME ,ATTENTION ,PERCEPTUAL DECOUPLING ,Electrophysiology ,Psychology ,Decoupling (electronics) ,MIND-WANDERING ,Cognitive psychology - Abstract
Mind-wandering (MW) has a negative impact on tasks requiring sustained and divided attention like driving. During MW, drivers experience perceptual decoupling. As driving is mainly a visual activity, it would seem to be appropriate to evaluate stages of visual information processing impaired during MW, using event-related potential techniques. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the level of attention devoted to driving impacted visual information processing and reaction time. The findings showed reductions in visual N1 and P3 amplitudes while driving and longer reaction times during periods of self-reported MW. This suggests that drivers can become detached from their environment by redirecting their attention to their personal thoughts and some of their cognitive resources may be consumed to feed internal trains of thought. In the future, investigating off-task characteristics might be useful in better understanding the impact of MW in car crashes.
- Published
- 2020