Pilot Test for the Relationship between Drivers’ Hazard Perception Ability and Cognitive Traits of Empathizing-Systemizing

Abstract

The previous research (Danno & Taniguchi, 2015) showed that near-miss incident experience was basically reduced by the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and was disturbed by the Systemizing Quotient (SQ) when the Empathy Quotient was low, based on the Empathizing and Systemizing (E-S) model using a web survey [1]. It means that drivers whose EQ was low and SQ was high had more near-miss incident experience. It suggested that drivers who have a stronger Empathizing function may have stronger hazard perception ability although the Systemizing function may weaken hazard perception ability when Empathizing is weak. And, then, it was revealed that the D score (standard SQ ( T ) score minus standard EQ ( T ) score) had a significant effect on the near-miss incident experience. Those results implied that a D score, which is used to classify “E-S types”, should have a relationship with near-miss incident experience, i.e. , hazard perception ability. The EQ and SQ scores were supposed to relate to the cognitive ability to estimate other road users’ mental situations and predict their behavior or to recognize stable laws in traffic situations. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between a driver’s visual attention ability (gaze movement) and hazard (near-miss incident) perception ability of different EQ and SQ scores. Drivers’ Real-time Useful Field of View (rUFOV) [2] was measured under normal and hasty driving conditions in a driving simulator which had six scenarios of traffic situation. The result from seven participants who had different EQ and SQ scores showed that a driver’s visual attention ability (gaze movement) corresponds to their scores. This pilot test research revealed a possibility that the individual difference in cognitive trait with E-S model could be a promising tool to understand the mechanism of hazard perception since a D score is used to classify “E-S types”.