Development and Evaluation of a PC-based Attention Maintenance Training Program

This study included the development and evaluation of a PC-based attention maintenance assessment program and the development and evaluation of PC-based training aimed at improving attention maintenance skills. The results of Study 1 showed that the assessment program was able to differentiate between the attention maintenance skills of novice and experienced drivers with results similar to those found in prior field and simulator studies. The Focused Concentration and Attention Learning (FOCAL) program was created to teach novice drivers how to reduce their glance durations to under two seconds while still performing an in-vehicle task accurately. For the post-training test in Study 2, the participants trained with FOCAL showed statistically significant reductions in the percentage of glances greater than all specified time intervals compared to participants trained with a control program. Moreover, the distribution of glances did not change for the control group before and after training. In a separate analysis, the total time that the FOCAL group spent on the map task after training did not differ from the total time that the control group spent on the map task after training, although the total time for all participants was reduced from pretest to posttest. The results of Study 1 suggest that a PC-based assessment program is a potentially valid means to measure attention maintenance problems. The results of Study 2 suggest that a PC-based training program can change young driver behaviors, at least as measured by the PC-based assessment program. Together these studies provide a strong basis for further research into the effectiveness of computerized training and assessment for improving driver safety.