Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (MS)

College, School or Department Name

Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Advisor

Myounghoon Jeon

Abstract

Traditionally, driver distraction has been categorized into four types: visual, biomechanical, auditory, and cognitive. However, the place of emotion in distracted driving research is undefined. This research investigates the influence of emotional distraction on driving performance. In total, seventy-eight participants were recruited and placed into one of four conditions: physical (visual-biomechanical), cognitive (cognitive- auditory), emotional (anger), and control. The results demonstrated that emotional distraction degrades driving performance as much as or more than other distraction types. The causes for these results, underlying mechanisms, and other considerations are mentioned in the discussion section.

Share

COinS