PSYC3023 Special Topics in Psychology

Title of Project / Attention and hazard perception when driving: How experts see the scene
Supervisor / Professor Kristen Pammer
Supervisor Contact Details /
Project Background / All drivers have ‘drifted off’ or failed to see something that was clearly in view, yet trained expert drivers appear to rarely experience this. We aim to understand in both ‘normal’ and expert drivers, attentional mechanisms that control distraction and the perception of hazards, which is critical to road safety and young driver training.
The course will run over June/July at a time that is convenient for you, and run for approximately 4 weeks.
The aim of the project is to investigate situational awareness in expert and non-expert drivers. In general we know a lot about how driving changes as we become more experienced i.,e the transition from a novice to an experienced driver, but we know virtually nothing about the cognitive driving skills of expert drivers. The sorts of questions we will be asking include:
Do expert drivers have higher/deeper situational awareness for driving scenarios?
If so, does this translate into higher levels of situational awareness in general?
Do their scanning pattern differ in driving scenarios?
What sorts of hazards and information to expert drivers attend to?
What sorts of information to they ignore or filter out?
You will be part of an ARC funded research grant in association with the ACT Ambulance service, NRMA ACT Road Safety Trust, Ambulance Victoria, Monash University, the University of Western Australia and the University of the Sunshine Coast.
If we can understand what expert drivers do when they drive, we can use this information to inform driver training programs in general to reduce the incidences of road crashes involving novice drivers
We are currently collecting data with ACT ambulance officers (expert drivers), and non-expert drivers (‘normal’ control drivers) on a range of driving skills, as well as general cognitive skills. The critical part of the data collection phase is a situational awareness task in which participants watch video snapshots of driving where we measure their eye movements, and record their verbal narrative of what they observe in each scenario.
Your role in the project will be code the narratives from the participants, establishing the themes and categories generated by the participants, that will then be mapped back to the 3 levels of situational awareness so that we can compare situational awareness between the groups of participants. These categories will then be used in the remainder of the project for all participants. This is a critical phase of the project and we will appreciate your commitment to the project.
Depending on the time and number of students who participate in the project, we may also be able to map the verbal narratives to the eye-tracking data.
Time and duration of project / Please contact the convenor for availability
Pre-requisites / 2nd year psychology courses
Proposed Assessment / The assessment for the course will be negotiable, but will probably consist of:
Item / % Component / Due Date
An essay of between 3000 and 5000 words in which you discuss a qualitative analysis of ‘the what’ happens next task. It should be a research essay in the standard APA style. / 50% / TBA
A short report on the method to be adopted in the qualitative analysis. Approximately 1000 words. / 10% / TBA
A presentation to a small group of people of approximately 30 minutes in which you discuss the project, the background and the data collection process. / 30% / TBA
A mark for your engagement with the project / 10% / TBA
Outcomes / In the first instance, you will participate in the project as a control participant, to get a clear birds-eye view of the entire project.
You will gain an understanding of, and experience in conducting qualitative analyses.
You will have the opportunity to participate in a large research project, and you will develop skills in teamwork and collaboration as part of this research team
You will be associate with scientific articles and publications that arise from the research
You will have the opportunity to participate in ‘real’ research which will provide excellent experience for honours and postgraduate projects
You will gain experience in conducting applied Psychological research
Places Available / 5