The impact of cognitive workload on physiological arousal in young adult drivers: a field study and simulation validation

Abstract

Physiological measures provide a continuous and relatively non-invasive method of characterising workload. The extent to which such measures provide sensitivity beyond that provided by driving performance metrics is more open to question. Heart rate and skin conductance were monitored during actual highway driving in response to systematically increased levels of cognitive demand using an auditory delayed digit recall task. The protocol was consistent with an earlier simulator study, providing an opportunity to assess the validity of physiological measures recorded during driving simulation. The pattern of change in heart rate with increased cognitive demand was highly consistent between field and simulator. The findings meet statistical criteria for both relative and absolute validity, although there was a trend for absolute levels to be higher under actual driving conditions. For skin conductance level, the pattern in both environments was also quite similar and a reasonable case for overall relative validity can be made. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Growing complexity and multiple demands on modern drivers' attention highlight the significance of determining whether physiological measures provide increased sensitivity in workload detection. Better understanding, including whether simulator assessments provide valid measures of real-world response patterns, has implications in evaluating and refining interface designs and for developing advanced workload managers.

Effects of mental workload on physiological and subjective responses during traffic density monitoring: A field study

“…Cinaz et al (2013) indicated that the LF/HF ratio significantly increases with increased MWL. Reimer and Mehler (2011) monitored HR during actual highway driving in response to systematically increased levels of MWL using an auditory delayed digit recall task. The pattern of change in HR with increased MWL was highly consistent between field and simulator conditions.…”

JLR heart: Employing wearable technology in non-intrusive driver state monitoring. Preliminary study

“…Physiological parameters were also found to correlate to the cognitive workload in previous studies [7]- [9]. The method has been used priviously to assess the workload associated with voice-based in-vehicle interactions (e.g., cellular conversations or voice comands), where performance metrics, such as glancing patterns, are not directly impacted [10]. The heart activity records were identified as being sensitive to cognitive workload.…”

“…Reimer & Mehler [10] have demonstrated that physiological measures of workload can be productively modelled under simulated driving conditions. WMG's 3xD Desktop Driving Simulator for Intelligent Vehicles (Figure 1), consisting of Logitech G27 steering wheel, pedal set, gear lever, and three 22" screens, as well as, software developed by XPI Simulation Ltd., was used.…”

Employing consumer electronic devices in physiological and emotional evaluation of common driving activities

“…According to NHTSA [2], up to 94% of their observed accidents have occurred due to presence of human error that is, a car crash critical reason attributed to a driver. The cause of these errors is often an impaired mental and physical state of a driver, including fatigue [3], high level of workload [4], and distraction [5]. Similarly, presence of extensive emotions, especially anger, can make a driver prone to errors and could lead to dangerous driving [6].…”