Cognitive Load (and its influence on driving performance)
This workshop focuses on subliminal techniques employed to improve driver-vehicle interaction. This is a timely, relevant topic to be discussed, as cognitive abilities of a driver as well as human attention are limited resources. Furthermore, an ever increasing level of attention, provoked by the emergence of new driver information/assistance systems, more and more cars on the road, rising number of traffic signs, C2C communication, etc., is required for car operation. This divergence demands for new ways and means of communication to prevent information overload and a stipulated/overburdened cognitive channel. This request is even more tightened due to the fact that recently emerged novel solutions, e.g., in the form of multimodal feedback or implicit interaction, also hit their limits.
Studies have substantiated, for instance, that vehicle accidents today are to more than 90% caused by driver error. Reasons for that are not only driving errors like tailgating, suddenly changing lanes, or overestimating driving skills (where solutions are available in the form of assistance sytems), but maybe also cognitive overload (i.e., task difficulty exceeds resources available by the driver) or reduced situation awareness when driving at high workload levels. In case of cognitive overload, the performance of driving starts to decline, and as a consequence road safety is at risk.
Major difficulties in its avoidance are the fact that the capacity available by a driver is not constant while driving and that it would be almost impossible to determine the exact point where cognitive overload starts to occur (driver tend to alter his/her task management, e.g., by decreasing the speed when engaged in secondary/tertiary tasks), or by excluding or omitting certain elements.
For the issue involving drivers' cognitive resources, approaches are still missing but badly needed to ensure safe vehicle operation in future. In case of supported functionality, subliminal persuasion carries great potential to reduce cognitive load, stress or incorrect decisions. This assumption is based on the result of cognitive and social psychologists, who have learnt that stimuli presented subliminally can have a considerable influence over a variety of cognitive processes, possibly even behavior. The main idea is to "inject" information into a driver's mind below active awareness, thus transferring supplementary information in a subliminal style without adding load on the cognitive channel. The main benefit of this approach would be the reception of additional, essential information even in the case where almost no capacity is left for information transmission in a traditional way. It is anticipated that, as one example, events of sudden danger will benefit from using this technology. Recently, there have been some attempts made to extend current user interfaces (basically beyond the car domain) by means of subliminal communication, with examples being adaptive user interfaces, subliminal teaching techniques, or neurofeedback systems to enhance well-being. Subliminal techniques have also been used in driver state analysis systems or in road layout optimization based on driver behavior.