Effect of Driving Experience on Change Detection Based on Target Relevance and Size

Earlier studies that investigated the effects of driving experience and target safety relevance on change detection have produced conflicting results. Using a flicker change detection task to investigate the effect of driving experience on the ability to detect changes in objects that vary in safety relevance and size, the present study attempted to clarify some controversies by addressing three important methodological issues. The data showed that experienced drivers exhibited more efficient selection strategies than novice drivers and thus may have more spare resources to analyze less relevant objects in the driving environment. Selection strategies for relevant information appear to be sensitive to object size whereas selection of irrelevant information is downgraded comparatively and unaffected by size. Findings are discussed as they relate to theoretical and practical implications