Assessing Text Reading and Text Entry while Driving Using the Visual Occlusion Technique
DOI: 10.17077/drivingassessment.1478
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Summary
This study addresses the safety implications of distracted driving, specifically focusing on the visual attention demands of text reading and text entry tasks performed while operating a vehicle. With the increasing prevalence of smartphones and in-vehicle infotainment systems, understanding how drivers share attention between driving and secondary tasks is critical for designing safer technologies. The researchers utilized the visual occlusion technique, a surrogate method that mimics the intermittent sampling of roadway information by drivers, to estimate the time drivers spend with their eyes off the road. The study hypothesized that text entry would require more visual attention than text reading, and that longer text lengths and the presence of ambient (irrelevant) text would further increase task duration. The experimental design involved 28 participants across four age groups (18–75 years) who performed tasks in a vehicle simulator cab. Using CogLens occlusion goggles, vision was alternated between open and closed intervals (1.5 seconds each) according to ISO 16673 guidelines. Participants completed text entry (typing 4, 6, or 12 characters) and text reading (viewing 20–140 characters) tasks, with and without ambient text surrounding the target. The primary dependent variable was Total Shutter Open Time (TSOT), which measures the cumulative time vision was unoccluded during task completion. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA to assess the effects of task type, length, ambient text, age, and gender. Results indicated that TSOT was significantly higher for text entry than for text reading, and increased with longer text lengths for both task types. The interaction between task type and length showed that the increase in time from medium to long tasks was more pronounced for entry than for reading. Contrary to expectations, the presence of ambient text had no significant effect on TSOT. Additionally, TSOT in the occlusion condition was generally shorter than total task time in static (no occlusion) conditions, suggesting that the occlusion technique effectively captures the intermittent nature of visual attention. While main effects for age and gender were not significant, a three-way interaction revealed that men aged 25–39 had shorter TSOTs for entry but longer TSOTs for reading compared to women, though this finding requires cautious interpretation due to sample size. The findings highlight that text entry poses a greater visual demand than reading, with complexity scaling with text length. The study underscores the utility of the occlusion technique as a practical alternative to eye-tracking studies, though it notes limitations regarding its ability to fully replicate real-world driving dynamics, such as the retention of information during occlusion periods. The results inform the design of in-vehicle systems by providing empirical data on visual demand, which can be compared against safety guidelines from organizations like JAMA and NHTSA. The authors conclude that while the occlusion technique is valuable, further research is needed to validate its translation to on-road driving and to refine the method to better reflect the continuous timesharing demands of actual driving scenarios.
Key finding
Text entry produced significantly longer TSOT than text reading, and TSOT scaled with text length for both tasks (task type and length both p<.0001; interaction p<.0001). Ambient surrounding text had no effect on TSOT, and main effects of age and gender were not significant. Long text-entry TSOTs (~13s) exceeded the JAMA 7.5s and NHTSA 9.0s acceptable limits, suggesting design implications for in-vehicle systems requiring text interaction.
Methodology
simulator
Sample size: N=28 (14 men, 14 women; 7 per age group across 18-24, 25-39, 40-54, 55-75)
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via tag_papers on 2026-05-30 (2 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-07 |
| archive | success | core_acuk | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-02 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-07 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-06 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 17 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data, observational prevalence
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