Following Expert’s Eyes: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Gaze-Based Training Intervention on Young Drivers’ Latent Hazard Anticipation Skills

Abstract

A PC-based training program (RAPT; Pradhan et al., 2009), proven effective for improving young novice drivers’ hazard anticipation skills, does not improve the hazard anticipation performance of young drivers to ceiling despite the use of similar scenarios in both the training program and the evaluation drives. The current driving simulator experiment examined the effects of expert eye movement videos that demonstrated correct hazard anticipation, following RAPT-training on young drivers’ hazard anticipation performance. The results indicate that viewing the expert eye movement videos following the completion of RAPT can further increase the hazard anticipation ability of young drivers on subsequent evaluation drives. The results imply that videos of expert eye movements, if used appropriately, can help young drivers effectively map and integrate the knowledge gained in a training program within dynamic driving environments involving latent hazards.