An advanced training program on risk perception was developed and evaluated in a driving simulator. This training program included two elements. The first one was a PC-based Risk Awareness and Perception Program (RAPT) that had been developed and evaluated in several studies by researches at the Human Performance Lab within the last several years. Plan views of risky scenarios were used to explain to participants the location of potential hazards. The second element of the training (SIMRAPT) was newly developed for this study and used the portable low-cost driving simulator Drive Square Simulation System to train risk perception skills while the participant actually drove a real car in a virtual environment. A head mounted display was used to present the virtual world. Feedback was given to participants when they failed to scan appropriately for hazards. Twelve novice drivers served as experimental group and were trained with the combined RAPT/SIMRAPT training program. Twelve other novice drivers were given training not relevant to hazard anticipation and served as the control group. After training, both groups were evaluated on an advanced driving simulator (different from the Drive Square Simulation System used in SIMRAPT training) and the eye movements of both groups of drivers were measured. The drivers’ score was based on whether or not their eye-fixations indicated recognition of potential risks in different driving situations. The evaluation included eight scenarios used in the RAPT/SIMRAPT training (near transfer scenarios) and eight scenarios that were not used in the training (far transfer scenarios). The results indicated that trained drivers are more likely than untrained drivers to fixate on regions where potential risks might appear. Further the evaluation indicates that the training effect of the combined training using both the PC (RAPT) and a low-cost driving simulator (SIMRAPT) is larger than for training programs that only use the PC, though not significantly so.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:theses-1110 |
| Date | 01 January 2008 |
| Creators | Diete, Frank |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 |
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