On Working Memory and a Productivity Illusion in Distracted Driving

On the importance of working memory in the driving safety field: A systematic review

In recent years, many studies have used poor cognitive functions to explain risk safety differences among drivers. Working memory is a cognitive function with information storage and attentional control that plays a crucial role in driver information processing. Furthermore, it is inextricably linked to parameters such as driving performance, driving eye movements and driving neurophysiology, which have a significant impact on drivers' risky behavior and crash risk. In particular, crash risk is a serious risk to social safety and economic development. For this reason, it is necessary to understand how risk-related working memory affects driving so that pre-driving safety pre-training programs and in-vehicle safety assistance systems for driving can be developed accordingly, contributing to the development of semi-autonomous vehicles and even autonomous vehicles. In this paper, a systematic search of the literature over the past 23 years resulted in 78 articles that met the eligibility criteria and quality assessment. The results show that higher working memory capacity, as measured neuropsychologically, is associated with more consistent and safer driving-related parameters for drivers (e.g., lane keeping) and may be related to pupil dilation during risk perception while driving, which is associated with driving outcomes (tickets, pull-overs, penalty points and fines,and driving accidents) is closely related to the perceived usefulness of the human-machine interface, reaction time, standard deviation of steering wheel corners, etc. when the autonomous driving takes over. In addition, higher working memory load interference was associated with more inconsistent and unsafe driving-related parameters (including but not limited to eye movements, electrophysiology, etc.), with higher working memory load being associated with easier driver concentration on the road, faster heart rate, lower heart rate variability, and lower oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb) and deoxyhemoglobin (DeoxyHb). Only a limited number of studies have simultaneously investigated the relationship between working memory capacity, working memory load and driving, showing an interaction between working memory capacity and working memory load on lane change initiation and lane change correctness, with working memory capacity acting as a covariate that mediated the effect of working memory load on braking reaction time. In addition, working memory-related cognitive training had a transfer effect on improving driving ability. Overall, working memory capacity determines the upper limit of the number of working memory attention resources, while working memory load occupies part of the working memory attention resources, thus influencing information perception, decision judgment, operational response, and collision avoidance in driving. Future effective interventions for safe driving can be combined with capacity training and load alerting. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of working memory in driving and provide new insights into the design of driver safety training programs and automated driving personalized in-vehicle safety systems and roadside devices such as signage.

Potential of binaural beats intervention for improving memory and attention: insights from meta-analysis and systematic review

Binaural beats (BB) entrainment is an auditory perceptual occurrence that exists when two tones of separate frequencies are simultaneously presented to each ear. Research on BB entrainment has gained attention due to its ability to treat various conditions like anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD), etc. Even though research on BB entrainment suggests its efficiency in improving cognition among individuals, existing literature indicates mixed results in the cognitive domains of attention and memory. Thus, we conducted meta-analysis to examine the effect of BB intervention on memory and attention, respectively, in the current paper. We further performed a systematic review on the selected studies to report their variables, demographic characteristics of the participants, and outcomes to comprehensively position the research on BB intervention exclusively in the areas of memory and attention. Fifteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Based on 31 effect sizes, the results indicated an overall medium and significant effect size (g = 0.40). Findings from systematic review reveal conflicting results, especially concerning theta and beta's efficacy on memory (recall and recognition tasks) and attention-related tasks. The findings of the current paper add to the growing evidence that BB intervention improves attention and memory in humans. Since the findings suggest a near-moderate effect of BB interventions and mixed results in the systematic review, more research with robust study designs must explore its guiding principle and the expanding role of brainwaves in improving memory and attention in individuals. Such an intervention has important implications in both clinical and non-clinical settings.

Talking on the Phone While Driving: A Literature Review on Driving Simulator Studies

Distracted driving is a growing concern around the world and has been the focus of many naturalistic and simulator-based studies. Driving simulators provide excellent practical and theoretical help in studying the driving process, and considerable efforts have been made to prove their validity. This research aimed to review relevant simulator-based studies focused on investigating the effects of the talking-on-the-phone-while-driving distraction on drivers' behavior. This work is a scoping review which followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. The search was performed on five databases, covering twenty years of research results. It was focused on finding answers to three research questions that could offer an overview of the main sources of distraction, the research infrastructure, and the measures that were used to analyze and predict the effects of distractions. A number of 4332 studies were identified in the database search, from which 83 were included in the review. The main findings revealed that TPWD distraction negatively affects driving performance, exposing drivers to dangerous traffic situations. Moreover, there is a general understanding that the driver's cognitive, manual, visual, and auditory resources are all involved, to a certain degree, when executing a secondary task while driving.

Muscarinic M1, but not M4, receptor antagonism impairs divided attention in male rats

Divided attention may be more important than ever to comprehend, given ubiquitous distractors in modern living. In humans, concern has been expressed about the negative impact of distraction in education, the home, and the workplace. While acetylcholine supports divided attention, in part via muscarinic receptors, little is known about the specific muscarinic subtypes that may contribute. We designed a novel, high-response rate test of auditory sustained attention, in which rats complete variable-ratio runs on one of two levers, rather than emitting a single response. By doing this, we can present a secondary visual distractor task during some trials, for which a correct nosepoke response is reinforced with a more palatable food pellet. The nonspecific muscarinic antagonist scopolamine impaired performance, and slowed and reduced lever press activity. We then explored antagonists that preferentially block the M1 and M4 subtypes, because these receptors are potential therapeutic targets for cognitive enhancers. Telenzepine, an M1-preferring antagonist, impaired divided attention performance, but not performance of the attention task without distraction. Telenzepine also had fewer nonspecific effects than scopolamine. In contrast, the M4-preferring antagonist tropicamide had no effects. Analysis of overall behavior also indicated that accuracy in the main attention task decreased as a function of engagement with the distractor task. These results implicate the M1 receptor in divided attention.

Engineering Human–Machine Teams for Trusted Collaboration

The way humans and artificially intelligent machines interact is undergoing a dramatic change. This change becomes particularly apparent in domains where humans and machines collaboratively work on joint tasks or objects in teams, such as in industrial assembly or disassembly processes. While there is intensive research work on human–machine collaboration in different research disciplines, systematic and interdisciplinary approaches towards engineering systems that consist of or comprise human–machine teams are still rare. In this paper, we review and analyze the state of the art, and derive and discuss core requirements and concepts by means of an illustrating scenario. In terms of methods, we focus on how reciprocal trust between humans and intelligent machines is defined, built, measured, and maintained from a systems engineering and planning perspective in literature. Based on our analysis, we propose and outline three important areas of future research on engineering and operating human–machine teams for trusted collaboration. For each area, we describe exemplary research opportunities.

Mind-wandering rates fluctuate across the day: evidence from an experience-sampling study

Previous research has demonstrated reliable fluctuations in attentional processes during the course of the day. Everyday life experience sampling, during which participants respond to "probes" delivered at random intervals throughout the day on their mobile devices, is an effective tool for capturing such diurnal fluctuations in a naturalistic way. The existence of diurnal fluctuations in the case of mind-wandering, however, has not been examined to date. We did so in two studies. In the first study, we employed everyday experience sampling to obtain self-reports from 146 university students who rated the degree of free movement in their thoughts multiple times per day over five days. These time course data were analyzed using multilevel modelling. Freely moving thought was found to fluctuate reliably over the course of the day, with lower ratings reported in the early morning and afternoon and higher ratings around midday and evening. In the second study, we replicated these effects with a reanalysis of data from a past everyday experience-sampling study. We also demonstrated differences in parameter values for the models representing freely moving thought and two common conceptualizations of mind-wandering: task-unrelated thought and stimulus-independent thought. Taken together, the present results establish and replicate a complex pattern of change over the course of the day in how freely thought moves, while also providing further evidence that freedom of movement is dissociable from other dimensions of thought such as its task-relatedness and stimulus-dependence. Future research should focus on probing possible mechanisms behind circadian fluctuations of thought dynamics.