Training novice drivers to know how and where to look to reduce driving risks

Accelerating perceptual skill acquisition using a video training technique that impairs peripheral vision

40 novice drivers will take part in Dr. Donghyun Ryu’s experiment. All participants will complete seven training sessions in which they will watch videos of hazardous situations filmed from a driver’s perspective and they will be asked to detect and identify the hazard as soon as it emerges. Depending on which of the four groups they have been randomly assigned to, the participants will either have un-manipulated vision, clear central vision and blurred peripheral vision, blurred central vision and clear peripheral vision, or have no training at all. The study will test the effects of the training by testing the participant’s ability to detect hazards before the training sessions, immediately after, and a month later. « I expect that similar to my previous study, participants who train with clear central vision and blurred peripheral vision will improve driving performance to a greater extent than those who do not receive training », says Dr. Donghyun Ryu. In order to better understand the mechanisms that underpin skill acquisition, the participants’s gaze behavior, as well as their brain and cardiac activity will be monitored while they are being tested.

Road traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death globally and young novice drivers are the most likely to be involved. By developing a training technique that aids perceptual skill acquisition to enhance hazard perception ability of novice drivers, Dr. Donghyun Ryu could significantly contribute to safer roads. « Once the study is finished and our objectives are reached, this method of training could, for instance, be introduced in driving schools around the world », says Dr. Donghyun Ryu.