The ‘Saw but Forgot’ error: A role for short-term memory failures in understanding junction crashes?

Robbins, Chloe J.; Allen, Harriet A.; Miller, Karl; Chapman, Peter · 2019 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222905

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Summary

This study investigates the cognitive mechanisms behind junction crashes involving motorcyclists, specifically challenging the prevailing "Look but Fail to See" (LBFTS) hypothesis. While LBFTS attributes these collisions to failures in visual attention or detection, the authors propose that drivers may actually see the motorcycle but fail to retain the information in short-term memory, a phenomenon termed the "Saw but Forgot" (SBF) error. The research was motivated by high fatality rates in such crashes, where other road users pull into the path of oncoming motorcycles, and by evidence suggesting that drivers’ memories for their driving environment are often poor. The researchers conducted three experiments using a high-fidelity driving simulator equipped with eye-tracking technology. Participants drove to intersections with oncoming traffic, including cars, large goods vehicles, and motorcycles. In Study 1, a subset of participants underwent memory tests where they had to verbally identify and point to the locations of approaching vehicles. Studies 2 and 3 focused on analyzing eye movements and recall during risky maneuvers where drivers pulled out in front of approaching vehicles. The design controlled for vehicle type and distance, allowing for a comparison of attention and memory performance across different vehicle sizes. The results revealed that drivers failed to report approaching motorcycles on 13% to 18% of occasions, significantly more often than cars or large vehicles. Crucially, these failures occurred even when drivers had directly fixated on the motorcycle, indicating that the error was not due to a lack of visual attention. Instead, the failure to report was associated with the time elapsed between fixating on the vehicle and pulling out of the junction, as well as the amount of subsequent visual search activity. Drivers were more likely to forget the motorcycle if they made several head movements after initially seeing it. Additionally, drivers systematically underestimated the visual angle of oncoming vehicles, perceiving them as closer than they actually were, with this bias being strongest for motorcycles. The study concludes that short-term memory interference, rather than perceptual blindness, plays a significant role in junction crashes. The authors introduce the Perceive Retain Choose (PRC) model to explain how new visual information can interfere with the storage of previously encoded data. This finding suggests that many crashes classified as LBFTS may be misclassified and are actually SBF errors. The implications for road safety are substantial, indicating that interventions should focus on reducing cognitive load and memory interference during complex maneuvers, rather than solely improving visual scanning or vehicle visibility.

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Topics

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• looked but failed to see
• inattentional change blindness
• pre crash contributing factors
• human error taxonomy
• motorcycle conspicuity

Information type

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• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model