Effects of shrinkage of the visual field through ageing on parking performance: a parametric manipulation of salience and relevance of contextual components

The Master Activation model of attention (Michael, Vairet, and Fernandez, Capture attentionnelle en vision: La saillance, la pertinence, et la balance cortico-sous-corticale. In: G. A. Michael (ed), Neuroscience cognitive de l'attention visuelle [Cognitive Neuroscience of Visual Attention], Solal, Marseille, pp. 165–201, 2007; Michael, Lété, and Ducrot, Trajectories of Attentional Development: An Exploration with the Master Activation Map Model, Developmental Psychology, 49:615–631, 2013) was used to study visual attention and driving behaviours of younger and older drivers while parking a car. The salience and the relevance of elements present in the parking environment were manipulated during parking manoeuvres. Different effects on manoeuvring were observed depending on driver characteristics such as age and the extent of the field of view (FV). It was found that the presence of a relevant element, such as a pedestrian, impaired parking performance only among older drivers with a narrower FV. The distinct effects of salience and relevance suggest that they had different statuses in attentional processing of manoeuvring drivers. Practitioner Summary: The study investigated parking behaviour with different levels of salience and relevance of the parking environment. Younger and older drivers made parallel and perpendicular manoeuvres with high or low salience obstacles and in the absence or presence of a pedestrian on the adjacent pavement. Salience and relevance had distinct effects on manoeuvring, depending on the driver's age and FV.