Cognitive Psychology Foundations

The general cognitive-psychology literature underlying driver-safety work: attention, memory, and decision making studied as mechanisms rather than in traffic.

What's here. Laboratory and theoretical work on attention_selective_divided, sustained_attention_vigilance, working_memory, executive_function, visual_search, inattentional_change_blindness, task_switching, prospective_memory_interruptions, signal_detection_theory, and capacity_resource_theory. Also the basic-science background a driving study cites rather than performs: cognitive_aging, time_perception, decision_making_risk_perception, automaticity_skill_acquisition, stress_arousal_performance, multisensory_crossmodal.

What isn't here.

• dual-task and mental-load studies where the primary task is driving (`dual_task_performance`) — Cognitive Workload. `dual_task_multitasking` and `capacity_resource_theory` here are the paradigms and theory themselves; anything measuring load on a driver, in a simulator or on the road, is shelved under cognitive_workload.
• perception-reaction time as an estimated interval in crash analysis (`perception_reaction_time`) — Forensic Human Factors. `perception_action_locomotion` here covers perceptual control of movement as a research topic. PRT values, distributions, and their use in reconstruction and testimony are in forensic_human_factors.
• cognitive decline treated as a driver impairment or fitness-to-drive question (`cognitive_impairment`) — Driver Impairment. `cognitive_aging` here is the age-and-cognition literature on its own terms. Clinical decline, dementia, and medical screening of drivers sit with the other impairments.