Dr. Andrew Hashikawa
Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the leading cause of teenage deaths worldwide. Teen drivers (ages 15-19) are vulnerable to crashes from texting while driving (TWD) because of their inexperience, poor risk assessment skills, and ubiquitous use of cell phones. In this project, we will gather and analyze pilot data on a Virtual Reality (VR) game intended to teach new teen drivers about the adverse impact of divided attention, multitasking, and distractibility on driving, with a focus on TWD. VR has been used to change attitudes in other contexts. Our team’s goal is to test the VR game as a tool to augment a discussion-based educational session for teenagers on TWD. A VR game called Distracted Navigator has been developed by two of the proposers over the last two years but has not yet been piloted in teenagers. Using a VR headset and controllers, the player inside a virtual cockpit navigates a spaceship through an asteroid field in two sequential rounds – one round without any distractions and one round with distractions.
Distracted Navigator was designed to demonstrate the effects of several types of distractions on game performance based on three models of distraction: a.) Shared attention; b.) Task-switching; and c.) Inattention blindness. Distracted Navigator was also intended to 1.) create a familiar game environment without exactly replicating an automobile driving experience or simulation; 2.) be played in under 10 minutes; 3.) have adjustable distractions to fine-tune gameplay; and 4.) be streamed so an audience can watch gameplay. The VR qualities of portability, engagingness, immersion, and enabling audience viewing are critical for scalability in its use as an educational tool in the driver’s training setting. Our proposed research focuses on having teenagers play Distracted Navigator to teach them the adverse effects of divided attention, multitasking, and distractibility on the performance of a primary task, engage them in a group discussion that ties in-game concepts to TWD, and obtain their feedback. Our overall hypothesis is that when teenagers play the VR game and watch others play the game, they will have increased awareness of how multitasking and distractions (TWD) negatively affect performance.