How does drivers' visual search change as a function of experience? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Road safety research
• Cognitive psychology
• Human factors in driving

Background:

• Novice drivers are disproportionately involved in road crashes.
• Cognitive processing limitations, particularly in visual search, may contribute to novice driver crashes.
• Inconsistent reporting of eye movement data across studies necessitates a systematic review.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and synthesize evidence on differences in visual search patterns between novice and experienced drivers.
• To determine if novice drivers exhibit distinct and reproducible visual search behaviors compared to experienced drivers.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across multiple databases (Web of Science, Medline, TRID, TRB).
• Inclusion of studies comparing novice (<3 years experience) and experienced (>3 years experience) drivers using eye-tracking.
• Meta-analysis of fixation durations, horizontal/vertical search spread, and number of fixations, with subgroup and sensitivity analyses.

Main Results:

• Novice drivers demonstrated a significantly narrower horizontal spread of visual search compared to experienced drivers.
• No significant differences were found in fixation durations, vertical spread of search, or number of fixations between the groups.
• Subgroup analyses highlighted the influence of driver experience levels and methodological variations.

Conclusions:

• Novice drivers require training to broaden their horizontal visual search, rather than focusing on looking further down the road.
• Findings inform the development of targeted driver training interventions to enhance safety.
• Methodological considerations are important for future research on driver visual search behavior.