Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

(consciously) controlled action regulation (depicted in the top half of Figure
3.6), Brouwer & Schmidt (2002) stress that action regulation is not an all or
nothing matter. It is assumed that in all activities there is a mix of automatic
and controlled regulation. However, for experienced drivers the part in the
mix of automatic regulation is supposed to be larger than for novice drivers.
3.7. The framework, attention and driving
In his book 'The Principles of Psychology' (1890), William James wrote:
"Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in
clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously
possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of
consciousness, are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in
order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real
opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state which in French is
called distraction, and Zerstreutheit in German." Although according to James
everyone seems to know what attention is, many different concepts of
attention have been developed. Eysenck & Keane (1995) noted with regard to
the scientific definitions of attention that a concept that is used to explain
everything will turn out to explain nothing. Different cognitive functions
have been distinguished that are linked to different areas of the brain which
all are labelled attention. For example, Posner & Petersen (1990) made a
distinction between (a) attention as orienting to sensory events; (b) attention
as detecting signals for focal (conscious) processing, and (c) attention as
maintaining a vigilant or alert state. According to Posner & Petersen for each
of these three modes of attention, different circuits in the brain are active. In
addition, the cognitive tests to measure for instance selective attention,
focused attention and divided attention differ too (e.g. the Stroop-test and
complex reaction-time tests). Brouwer (2002) noted a discrepancy between
the commonly accepted important role of (visual) attention in driving, the
fitness to drive of persons with mild dementia and the scores of these
persons on tests such as the Stroop-test. These persons usually score far
outside the normal range on these tests, but occasionally official driving
experts of the Dutch driving licence authority (CBR) assess these persons as
perfectly safe drivers, even in complex driving situations during test drives.
Brouwer (2002) also noted that if driving demands a lot of attention how can
it be that there are examples of somnambulism where drives drove long
distances while being asleep (sleep driving instead of sleepwalking) and not
causing an accident. Brouwer (2002), like Norman & Shallice (1986) assumes
that attention is an inherent part of the processes involving the activation and
96