MONITORING RADIO PROGRAMS AND TIME OF DAY AFFECT SIMULATED CAR-DRIVING PERFORMANCE

Whether radio monitoring, task difficulty, and time of day affect driv ing performance was examined in a computer-controlled, simulated drivi ng task. Driving performance was defined as the absolute deviation of the car position from road midline as displayed on the computer monito r. We found for 12 men and 8 women (i) an expected, marked deteriorati on of performance with increasing task difficulty, (ii) a deterioratio n of performance in the morning, and (iii) a deterioration of performa nce when subjects concurrently listened to radio programs except for t he easy task conducted in the morning. The latter is supposed to be ca used by a reactive increase of effort, which is induced by the concurr ent radio monitoring and stimulated through a perceived impairment of attention.