Shiferaw Brook, Stough Con, Downey Luke
Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC), Swinburne University of Technology, Mail H24, P.O. Box 218 Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122, Australia.
Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2014;7(3):174-82. doi: 10.2174/1874473708666150107143813.
Alcohol intoxication and distraction are two of the leading factors associated with impaired driving and fatalities, especially among younger drivers. However, it is currently unclear how these conditions affect mechanisms of visual attention considered essential for driving. The present article first reviews the literature to provide an overview of visual attention as it relates to driving. Secondly, the effects of alcohol and distraction on neurocognitive mechanisms of visual attention are summarised to provide a background which informs discussion of selected driving studies. Visual scanning impairment is identified as a consequence of both alcohol and distraction. Thus, experimental studies combining the use of simulated driving and eye tracking technologies are selected and critically reviewed to assess the relationship between eye movements and driving errors as possible indicators of visual scanning impairment. Seven of the eight studies selected investigated the effects of distraction while only one addressed alcohol. Evaluation of these studies suggests that distraction may affect visual scanning by increasing cognitive load which interferes with visual processing. The evidence for effects of alcohol on drivers' visual scanning capacity is currently scarce due to the lack of research with a specific focus on impairments of eye movement in intoxicated drivers. Lack of consistency between studies is identified as a current issue which makes it difficult to compare the results of different studies. Finally, we note that our strict selection of driving studies to avoid greater disparity between them is a limitation of the present review.
酒精中毒和注意力分散是导致驾驶能力受损和交通事故死亡的两大主要因素，在年轻驾驶员中尤为如此。然而，目前尚不清楚这些状况如何影响驾驶所必需的视觉注意力机制。本文首先回顾文献，以概述与驾驶相关的视觉注意力。其次，总结酒精和注意力分散对视觉注意力神经认知机制的影响，为所选驾驶研究的讨论提供背景信息。视觉扫描受损被确定为酒精和注意力分散的共同后果。因此，挑选并严格审查了结合使用模拟驾驶和眼动追踪技术的实验研究，以评估眼动与驾驶失误之间的关系，这些关系可能是视觉扫描受损的指标。所选的八项研究中有七项调查了注意力分散的影响，只有一项涉及酒精的影响。对这些研究的评估表明，注意力分散可能通过增加认知负荷来影响视觉扫描，而认知负荷会干扰视觉处理。由于缺乏专门针对醉酒驾驶员眼动障碍的研究，目前关于酒精对驾驶员视觉扫描能力影响的证据很少。研究之间缺乏一致性被确定为当前的一个问题，这使得难以比较不同研究的结果。最后，我们指出，我们对驾驶研究的严格筛选以避免它们之间存在更大差异，这是本综述的一个局限性。
