Age-Related Differences in the Cognitive, Visual and Temporal Demands of In-Vehicle Information Systems

Cooper, Joel M.; Wheatley, Camille L.; McCarty, Madeleine M.; Motzkus, Conner J.; Lopes, Clara L.; Erickson, Gus G.; Baucom, Brian R. W.; Strayer, David L. · 2019 · AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

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Summary

HFES conference proceedings report (Aspire Conference) documenting N-back temporal instability findings. Two-experiment study showing N-back performance improvement and workload decrease over 26+ on-road driving sessions. Experiment 1: 10 participants with 26+ exposures show systematic accuracy increases and cognitive demand decreases. Experiment 2: Old vs New digit sequences tested with 20 participants; equivalent performance confirms strategy-based improvement.

Key finding

N-back accuracy and DRT-based workload measures show systematic drift over repeated on-road sessions, with improvements attributable to general strategy acquisition (subvocal rehearsal, automatization) rather than sequence-specific learning.

Methodology

Exp 1: 10 participants, repeated measures across 6 sessions from 26 total. Exp 2: 20 participants, Old/New sequence comparison. On-road driving paradigm with DRT and NASA-TLX measures.

Sample size: Exp 1: N=10; Exp 2: N=20

Quality score: 5 / 5

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