Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance
Abstract We report results from a driving simulator paradigm we developed to test the fine temporal effects of verbal tasks on simultaneous tracking performance. A total of 74 undergraduate students participated in two experiments in which they controlled a cursor using the steering wheel to track a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Cognitive Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00357-x |
| _version_ | 1818499400163393536 |
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| author | Jonathan C. Rann Amit Almor |
| author_facet | Jonathan C. Rann Amit Almor |
| author_sort | Jonathan C. Rann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We report results from a driving simulator paradigm we developed to test the fine temporal effects of verbal tasks on simultaneous tracking performance. A total of 74 undergraduate students participated in two experiments in which they controlled a cursor using the steering wheel to track a moving target and where the dependent measure was overall deviation from target. Experiment 1 tested tracking performance during slow and fast target speeds under conditions involving either no verbal input or output, passive listening to spoken prompts via headphones, or responding to spoken prompts. Experiment 2 was similar except that participants read written prompts overlain on the simulator screen instead of listening to spoken prompts. Performance in both experiments was worse during fast speeds and worst overall during responding conditions. Most significantly, fine scale time-course analysis revealed deteriorating tracking performance as participants prepared and began speaking and steadily improving performance while speaking. Additionally, post-block survey data revealed that conversation recall was best in responding conditions, and perceived difficulty increased with task complexity. Our study is the first to track temporal changes in interference at high resolution during the first hundreds of milliseconds of verbal production and comprehension. Our results are consistent with load-based theories of multitasking performance and show that language production, and, to a lesser extent, language comprehension tap resources also used for tracking. More generally, our paradigm provides a useful tool for measuring dynamical changes in tracking performance during verbal tasks due to the rapidly changing resource requirements of language production and comprehension. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T20:28:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-705513e040aa4867b06a9237fb39f3ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2365-7464 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T20:28:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cognitive Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-705513e040aa4867b06a9237fb39f3ea2022-12-22T01:34:45ZengSpringerOpenCognitive Research2365-74642022-02-017112610.1186/s41235-022-00357-xEffects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performanceJonathan C. Rann0Amit Almor1Department of Psychology, University of South CarolinaDepartment of Psychology, University of South CarolinaAbstract We report results from a driving simulator paradigm we developed to test the fine temporal effects of verbal tasks on simultaneous tracking performance. A total of 74 undergraduate students participated in two experiments in which they controlled a cursor using the steering wheel to track a moving target and where the dependent measure was overall deviation from target. Experiment 1 tested tracking performance during slow and fast target speeds under conditions involving either no verbal input or output, passive listening to spoken prompts via headphones, or responding to spoken prompts. Experiment 2 was similar except that participants read written prompts overlain on the simulator screen instead of listening to spoken prompts. Performance in both experiments was worse during fast speeds and worst overall during responding conditions. Most significantly, fine scale time-course analysis revealed deteriorating tracking performance as participants prepared and began speaking and steadily improving performance while speaking. Additionally, post-block survey data revealed that conversation recall was best in responding conditions, and perceived difficulty increased with task complexity. Our study is the first to track temporal changes in interference at high resolution during the first hundreds of milliseconds of verbal production and comprehension. Our results are consistent with load-based theories of multitasking performance and show that language production, and, to a lesser extent, language comprehension tap resources also used for tracking. More generally, our paradigm provides a useful tool for measuring dynamical changes in tracking performance during verbal tasks due to the rapidly changing resource requirements of language production and comprehension.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00357-xCognitive loadLanguage processingMultitaskingSimulated driving |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan C. Rann Amit Almor Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance Cognitive Research Cognitive load Language processing Multitasking Simulated driving |
| title | Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| title_full | Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| title_fullStr | Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| title_short | Effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| title_sort | effects of verbal tasks on driving simulator performance |
| topic | Cognitive load Language processing Multitasking Simulated driving |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00357-x |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonathancrann effectsofverbaltasksondrivingsimulatorperformance AT amitalmor effectsofverbaltasksondrivingsimulatorperformance |