L. Jancke et al., MONITORING RADIO PROGRAMS AND TIME OF DAY AFFECT SIMULATED CAR-DRIVING PERFORMANCE, Perceptual and motor skills, 79(1), 1994, pp. 484-486
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.