Can Three-Dimensional Multiple Object Tracking Training Be Used to Improve Simulated Driving Performance? A Pilot Study in Young and Older Adults.

Driving ability has been shown to be dependent on perceptual-cognitive abilities such as visual attention and speed of processing. There is mixed evidence suggesting that training these abilities may improve aspects of driving performance. This preliminary study investigated the feasibility of training three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT)-a dynamic, speeded tracking task soliciting selective, sustained and divided attention as well as speed of processing-to improve measures of simulated driving performance in older and younger adults. A sample of 20 young adults (23-33 years old) and 14 older adults (65-76 years old) were randomly assigned to either a 3D-MOT training group or an active control group trained on a perceptual discrimination task as well as 2048. Participants were tested on a driving scenario with skill-testing events previously identified as optimal for cross-sectional comparisons of driving ability. Results replicated previously identified differences in driving behaviour between age groups. A possible trend was observed for the 3D-MOT trained group, especially younger adults, to increase the distance at which they applied their maximum amount of braking in response to dangerous events. This measure was associated with less extreme braking during events, implying that these drivers may have been making more controlled stops. Limitations of sample size and task realism notwithstanding, the present experiment offers preliminary evidence that 3D-MOT training might transfer to driving performance through quicker detection of or reaction to dangerous events and provides a rationale for replication with a larger sample size.

Three-dimensional multiple object tracking improves young adult cognitive abilities associated with driving: evidence for transfer to the useful field of view.

OBJECTIVES: 3-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) and the useful field of view (UFOV) both claim to measure and train cognitive abilities, such as selective and divided attention implicated in driving safety. 3D-MOT is claimed to improve even young adult cognitive ability. If true, one would expect to observe the transfer of 3D-MOT training to UFOV performance mediated by way of shared underlying cognitive mechanisms. METHODS: We test this notion by assessing whether ten 30-min sessions of 3D-MOT training spread across 5 weeks improves UFOV performance relative to an active control group trained on a visual task and a challenging puzzle game (participants aged between 23 and 33 years old). RESULTS: The 3D-MOT training group exhibited significantly improved UFOV performance whereas the active control group exhibited only a small, statistically nonsignificant improvement in the task. CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that 3D-MOT and UFOV performance are likely dependent on overlapping cognitive abilities and helps support the assertion that these abilities can be trained and measured even in young adults. Such training could have implications for improving driver safety in both young and older adults.

Distractor-induced saccade trajectory curvature reveals visual contralateral bias with respect to the dominant eye.

The functional consequences of the visual system lateralization referred to as "eye dominance" remain poorly understood. We previously reported shorter hand reaction times for targets appearing in the contralateral visual hemifield with respect to the dominant eye (DE). Here, we further explore this contralateral bias by studying the influence of laterally placed visual distractors on vertical saccade trajectories, a sensitive method to assess visual processing. In binocular conditions, saccade trajectory curvature was larger toward a distractor placed in the contralateral hemifield with respect to the DE (e.g., in the left visual hemifield for a participant with a right dominant eye) than toward one presented in the ipsilateral hemifield (in the right visual hemifield in our example). When two distractors were present at the same time, the vertical saccade showed curvature toward the contralateral side. In monocular conditions, when one distractor was presented, a similar larger influence of the contralateral distractor was observed only when the viewing eye was the DE. When the non dominant eye (NDE) was viewing, curvature was symmetric for both distractor sides. Interestingly, this curvature was as large as the one obtained for the contralateral distractor when the DE was viewing, suggesting that eye dominance consequences rely on inhibition mechanisms present when the DE is viewing. Overall, these results demonstrate that DE influences visual integration occurring around saccade production and support a DE-based contralateral visual bias.

Increased visual and cognitive demands emphasize the importance of meeting visual needs at all distances while driving.

Having an optimal quality of vision as well as adequate cognitive capacities is known to be essential for driving safety. However, the interaction between vision and cognitive mechanisms while driving remains unclear. We hypothesized that, in a context of high cognitive load, reduced visual acuity would have a negative impact on driving behavior, even when the acuity corresponds to the legal threshold for obtaining a driving license in Canada, and that the impact observed on driving performance would be greater with the increase in the threshold of degradation of visual acuity. In order to investigate this relationship, we examined driving behavior in a driving simulator under optimal and reduced vision conditions through two scenarios involving different levels of cognitive demand. These were: 1. a simple rural driving scenario with some pre-programmed events and 2. a highway driving scenario accompanied by a concurrent task involving the use of a navigation device. Two groups of visual quality degradation (lower/ higher) were evaluated according to their driving behavior. The results support the hypothesis: A dual task effect was indeed observed provoking less stable driving behavior, but in addition to this, by statistically controlling the impact of cognitive load, the effect of visual load emerged in this dual task context. These results support the idea that visual quality degradation impacts driving behavior when combined with a high mental workload driving environment while specifying that this impact is not present in the context of low cognitive load driving condition.

Eye-head coordination and dynamic visual scanning as indicators of visuo-cognitive demands in driving simulator.

Driving is an everyday task involving a complex interaction between visual and cognitive processes. As such, an increase in the cognitive and/or visual demands can lead to a mental overload which can be detrimental for driving safety. Compiling evidence suggest that eye and head movements are relevant indicators of visuo-cognitive demands and attention allocation. This study aims to investigate the effects of visual degradation on eye-head coordination as well as visual scanning behavior during a highly demanding task in a driving simulator. A total of 21 emmetropic participants (21 to 34 years old) performed dual-task driving in which they were asked to maintain a constant speed on a highway while completing a visual search and detection task on a navigation device. Participants did the experiment with optimal vision and with contact lenses that introduced a visual perturbation (myopic defocus). The results indicate modifications of eye-head coordination and the dynamics of visual scanning in response to the visual perturbation induced. More specifically, the head was more involved in horizontal gaze shifts when the visual needs were not met. Furthermore, the evaluation of visual scanning dynamics, based on time-based entropy which measures the complexity and randomness of scanpaths, revealed that eye and gaze movements became less explorative and more stereotyped when vision was not optimal. These results provide evidence for a reorganization of both eye and head movements in response to increasing visual-cognitive demands during a driving task. Altogether, these findings suggest that eye and head movements can provide relevant information about visuo-cognitive demands associated with complex tasks. Ultimately, eye-head coordination and visual scanning dynamics may be good candidates to estimate drivers' workload and better characterize risky driving behavior.

Combining 3D-MOT With Sport Decision-Making for Perceptual-Cognitive Training in Virtual Reality.

This study introduces a virtual life-sized perceptual-cognitive training paradigm that combines three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) with motor (Experiment 1) or perceptual (Experiment 2) sport decision-making tasks. We sought to assess the impact of training on task performance and determine optimal training conditions for improvement and learning. Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions (isolated 3D-MOT, 3D-MOT combined with a decision-making task, consolidated 3D-MOT later combined with a decision-making task, and isolated decision-making task). We evaluated task performance using speed thresholds, success rate (%), and reaction time (s). Findings were that the dual-task paradigm was associated with performance beyond chance level on both 3D-MOT and decision-making tasks despite an important dual-task cost. Interestingly, the results seemed to favor consolidated 3D-MOT training over simultaneous 3D-MOT training when combined with a motor decision-making task but not when combined with a perceptual decision-making task. The number of shared attentional resources in the nature of the additional task (i.e., perceptual or motor decision-making) seems to be key in interpreting the dual-task interference. These findings must be considered when designing representative multitask perceptual-cognitive training.

Interhemispheric Transfer Time Asymmetry of Visual Information Depends on Eye Dominance: An Electrophysiological Study.

The interhemispheric transfer of information is a fundamental process in the human brain. When a visual stimulus appears eccentrically in one visual-hemifield, it will first activate the contralateral hemisphere but also the ipsilateral one with a slight delay due to the interhemispheric transfer. This interhemispheric transfer of visual information is believed to be faster from the right to the left hemisphere in right-handers. Such an asymmetry is considered as a relevant fact in the context of the lateralization of the human brain. We show here using current source density (CSD) analyses of visually evoked potential (VEP) that, in right-handers and, to a lesser extent in left-handers, this asymmetry is in fact dependent on the sighting eye dominance, the tendency we have to prefer one eye for monocular tasks. Indeed, in right-handers, a faster interhemispheric transfer of visual information from the right to left hemisphere was observed only in participants with a right dominant eye (DE). Right-handers with a left DE showed the opposite pattern, with a faster transfer from the left to the right hemisphere. In left-handers, albeit a smaller number of participants has been tested and hence confirmation is required, only those with a right DE showed an asymmetrical interhemispheric transfer with a faster transfer from the right to the left hemisphere. As a whole these results demonstrate that eye dominance is a fundamental determinant of asymmetries in interhemispheric transfer of visual information and suggest that it is an important factor of brain lateralization.

Enhancing data visualisation to capture the simulator sickness phenomenon: On the usefulness of radar charts.

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "The use of transdermal scopolamine to solve methodological issues raised by gender differences in susceptibility to simulator sickness" (Chaumillon et al., 2017) [1]. In an outstanding first demonstration, Kennedy et al. [2] showed that the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) is an appropriate tool to suit the purposes of characterizing motion sickness experienced in virtual environments. This questionnaire has since been used in many scientific studies. Recently, Balk et al. [3] suggested that the proposed segregation of SSQ scores into three subclasses of symptoms might limit the accuracy of simulator sickness assessment. These authors performed a factor analysis based on SSQ scores obtained from nine studies on driving simulators. Although their factor analysis resulted in the same three orthogonal classes of symptoms as Kennedy et al. [2], unlike this pioneering study, no items were attributed to more than one factor and five items were not attributed to any class of symptoms. As a result, they claimed that an exploration of each item score should give additional cues on individual profiles. To gain a better characterization of such item-by-item exploration, data utilised in this research are shown using a radar chart visualisation.

Driving simulator scenarios and measures to faithfully evaluate risky driving behavior: A comparative study of different driver age groups.

To investigate the links between mental workload, age and risky driving, a cross-sectional study was conducted on a driving simulator using several established and some novel measures of driving ability and scenarios of varying complexity. A sample of 115 drivers was divided into three age and experience groups: young inexperienced (18-21 years old), adult experienced (25-55 years old) and older adult (70-86 years old). Participants were tested on three different scenarios varying in mental workload from low to high. Additionally, to gain a better understanding of individuals' ability to capture and integrate relevant information in a highly complex visual environment, the participants' perceptual-cognitive capacity was evaluated using 3-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT). Results indicate moderate scenario complexity as the best suited to highlight well-documented differences in driving ability between age groups and to elicit naturalistic driving behavior. Furthermore, several of the novel driving measures were shown to provide useful, non-redundant information about driving behavior, complementing more established measures. Finally, 3D-MOT was demonstrated to be an effective predictor of elevated crash risk as well as decreased naturally-adopted mean driving speed, particularly among older adults. In sum, the present experiment demonstrates that in cases of either extreme high or low task demands, drivers can become overloaded or under aroused and thus task measures may lose sensitivity. Moreover, insights from the present study should inform methodological considerations for future driving simulator research. Importantly, future research should continue to investigate the predictive utility of perceptual-cognitive tests in the domain of driving risk assessment.

Asymmetry in visual information processing depends on the strength of eye dominance.

Unlike handedness, sighting eye dominance, defined as the eye unconsciously chosen when performing monocular tasks, is very rarely considered in studies investigating cerebral asymmetries. We previously showed that sighting eye dominance has an influence on visually triggered manual action with shorter reaction time (RT) when the stimulus appears in the contralateral visual hemifield with respect to the dominant eye (Chaumillon et al. 2014). We also suggested that eye dominance may be more or less pronounced depending on individuals and that this eye dominance strength could be evaluated through saccadic peak velocity analysis in binocular recordings (Vergilino-Perez et al. 2012). Based on these two previous studies, we further examine here whether the strength of the eye dominance can modulate the influence of this lateralization on manual reaction time. Results revealed that participants categorized as having a strong eye dominance, but not those categorized as having a weak eye dominance, exhibited the difference in RT between the two visual hemifields. This present study reinforces that the analysis of saccade peak velocity in binocular recordings provides an effective tool to better categorize the eye dominance. It also shows that the influence of eye dominance in visuo-motor tasks depends on its strength. Our study also highlights the importance of considering the strength of eye dominance in future studies dealing with brain lateralization.

Eye dominance influences triggering action: the Poffenberger paradigm revisited.

Our dominant eye (DE) is the one we unconsciously choose when performing a monocular task. Although it has been recognized for centuries, eye dominance and its behavioral consequences remain poorly understood. Here we used the simple and well-known Poffenberger paradigm (1912) in which participants press a button with the right or left index finger, in reaction to the appearance of a lateralized visual stimulus. By selecting participants according to their DE and handedness, we were able to decipher the impact of eye dominance on visuomotor transformation speed. We show, for the first time, that in right-handers simple reaction times (RT) in response to a lateralized visual target are shorter when it appears in the contralateral visual hemifield with respect to the DE. In left-handers, only those with a right DE exhibit a shorter RT with the left hand and they show no hemifield difference. Additionally, the Poffenberger paradigm has been used to estimate the interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) in both directions, from the right to the left hemisphere or the reverse, by comparing hand RTs following stimulation of each visual hemifield. The present study demonstrates that this paradigm leads to biased estimations of these directionally considered IHTT and provides an explanation to the often reported IHTT negative values that otherwise appear implausible. These new findings highlight the need to consider eye dominance in studies investigating the neural processes underlying visually-guided actions. More generally, they demonstrate a substantial impact of eye dominance on the neural mechanisms involved in converting visual inputs into motor commands.