Familiarity breeds contempt for the road ahead: the real-world effects of route repetition on visual attention in an expert driver

Young, AH ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8127-7380, Mackenzie, AK ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6818-2838, Davies, RL and Crundall, D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6030-3631, 2017. Familiarity breeds contempt for the road ahead: the real-world effects of route repetition on visual attention in an expert driver. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. ISSN 1369-8478

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Abstract

The majority of journeys by car take place on familiar roads, with many routes being driven time and time again. This familiarity has been linked to mind wandering and reduced attention to specific elements of the visual scene (e.g. speed signs). The current study presents on-road eye tracking data from a driving instructor who drove the same route 28 times, incorporating two types of suburban roads, dual and multi-lane carriageways, and a country road. Data reveal a significant positive correlation between the number of times the same route is navigated and off-road dwell time across all five road sections. In addition, route familiarity was associated with decreasing dwell time on safety-relevant aspects of the road ahead in four out of the five sections. These data suggest that route familiarity can lead to undesirable changes in visual attention on real roads, even for expert drivers under observation.

Item Type:	Journal article
Alternative Title:	Route familiarity and visual attention [running head]
Publication Title:	Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Creators:	Young, A.H., Mackenzie, A.K., Davies, R.L. and Crundall, D.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	23 October 2017
ISSN:	1369-8478
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.trf.2017.10.004 DOI S1369847817300943 Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	06 Feb 2018 12:04
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2018 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/32637

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