Characterizing visual attention during driving and non-driving hazard perception tasks in a simulated environment

Abstract

Research into driving skill, particularly of hazard perception, often involves studies where participants either view pictures of driving scenarios or use movie viewing paradigms. However oculomotor strategies tend to change between active and passive tasks and attentional limitations are introduced during real driving. Here we present a study using eye tracking methods, to contrast oculomotor behaviour differences across a passive video based hazard perception task and an active hazard perception simulated driving task. The differences presented highlight a requirement to study driving skill under more active conditions, where the participant is engaged with a driving task. Our results suggest that more standard, passive tests, may have limited utility when developing visual models of driving behaviour. The results presented here have implications for driver safety measures and provide further insights into how vision and action interact during natural activity.