Treffner Paul, Barrett Rod, Petersen Andrew
Centre for Active Visualisation, School of Information Technology, Griffith University, Qld, Australia.
Hum Mov Sci. 2002 Dec;21(5-6):749-84. doi: 10.1016/s0167-9457(02)00168-9.
Two experiments addressed the relation between postural stability, perceptual sensitivity, and stability of driving performance. A vehicle was fitted with differential GPS for measuring position and speed, position sensors for measuring brake and accelerator depression, force transducers for measuring door, console and footrest bracing forces, and an accelerometer for measuring the 3D accelerations of the vehicle. In Experiment 1, we investigated whether the initiation of deceleration and the control of braking might be due to sensitivity to the perceptual variable tau, which specifies time-to-contact (TTC), and in particular, whether its first derivative, tau-dot, is used to maintain a constant deceleration profile. Using both untrained experienced drivers (EDs) and trained driving instructors from the Holden Performance Driving Centre (HPDC), results confirmed that, regardless of skill level, tau-dot was maintained at a value close to 0.5 and, as predicted by Lee [Perception 5 (1976) 437], braking was initiated when TTC approximately 5 s. In Experiment 2, we wished to quantify the purported differences in driving behaviour between EDs and HPDC instructors during a variety of everyday manoeuvres. Results indicated that instructors utilised a different cornering trajectory, a different emergency braking strategy, and were able to perform a high-speed swerve and recovery task more effectively than the EDs. In general, the instructors applied greater bracing forces using the door and console compared with EDs. The instructors also applied greater footrest forces during emergency braking than did the EDs. The greater use of bracing by instructor drivers to resist g-forces represents a strategy of active stabilisation that enhances both postural stability, as well as overall stability and consistency of driving performance. Results are discussed with regard to the dynamics of perceptual-motor coordination, and how increased stability might improve sensitivity to relevant perceptual information. We conclude that driver-training programmes that focus on increasing driver stability (as a pre-requisite for increased control) show great promise as a means to improving one's attention during driving, and hence have the potential to dramatically improve road safety in general.
两项实验研究了姿势稳定性、感知灵敏度与驾驶性能稳定性之间的关系。一辆汽车安装了差分全球定位系统（GPS）以测量位置和速度、位置传感器以测量刹车和油门踏板的踩压情况、力传感器以测量车门、控制台和脚凳的支撑力，以及一个加速度计以测量车辆的三维加速度。在实验1中，我们研究了减速的启动和刹车控制是否可能归因于对感知变量τ的敏感度，τ指定了接触时间（TTC），特别是其一阶导数τ̇是否用于维持恒定的减速曲线。使用未经训练的经验丰富驾驶员（EDs）和来自霍顿高性能驾驶中心（HPDC）的训练有素的驾驶教练，结果证实，无论技能水平如何，τ̇都保持在接近0.5的值，并且正如Lee [《感知》5 (1976) 437] 所预测的，当TTC约为5秒时开始刹车。在实验2中，我们希望量化在各种日常操作中EDs和HPDC教练在驾驶行为上的所谓差异。结果表明，教练采用了不同的转弯轨迹、不同的紧急刹车策略，并且能够比EDs更有效地执行高速转弯和恢复任务。总体而言，与EDs相比，教练使用车门和控制台施加了更大的支撑力。在紧急刹车时，教练施加在脚凳上的力也比EDs更大。教练驾驶员更多地使用支撑来抵抗重力，这代表了一种主动稳定策略，既能增强姿势稳定性，又能提高驾驶性能的整体稳定性和一致性。我们讨论了关于感知 - 运动协调动力学的结果，以及稳定性的提高如何可能改善对相关感知信息的敏感度。我们得出结论，专注于提高驾驶员稳定性（作为增强控制的先决条件）的驾驶员培训计划作为一种提高驾驶时注意力的手段显示出巨大潜力，因此总体上有可能显著提高道路安全性。
