Conference Proceeding

Internal Distraction and Driving: Does It Show?

Authors: ,

Abstract

The effect of daydreaming (‘internal distraction’) on driving behavior little is known. Since it happens to some extent to most drivers, an explorative study was performed to see whether in an experimental setting something like daydreaming could occur, and if so whether this would show up in driving behavior. Three groups of participants made two drives in the TNO driving simulator. Group 1 did not perform any secondary task, Group 2 performed a ‘thinking and reasoning’ task (daydreaming condition) during specific parts of the drive, and Group 3 performed a ‘listening and remembering’ task during the same sections of the drives as Group 2. Mostly an effect was found for the ‘listening and remembering’ task. If an effect was found for the internal distraction condition, it indicated a same (negative) effect as the ‘listening and remembering’ task, although less severe.

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How to Cite: Brouwer, R. & Martens, W. (2007) “Internal Distraction and Driving: Does It Show?”, Driving Assessment Conference. 4(2007). doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/drivingassessment.1216