Influence of referential coding in a choice task performed in a simulated driving cockpit

Xiong, Aiping. M.S.I.E., Purdue University, August 2014. Influence of Referential Coding in a Choice Task Performed in a Simulated Driving Cockpit. Major Professors: Robert W. Proctor and Vincent Duffy. Driving and other tasks performed by the driver of a vehicle are spatial. Thus, it is important to understand how the driver represents the spatial environment. In laboratory studies, the Simon task is used to study spatial coding. Participants are to make a left or right response to a nonspatial stimulus feature, but the stimulus can occur in a left or right position. The Simon effect is that responses are faster when the stimulus location corresponds with the response location. That effect is not usually found for a go/no-go task in which only one response is made to one of the relevant stimulus values, but it is when another person or referent object is placed beside the performer. This thesis tested whether an “infotainment display” in a driving cockpit produces a similar referential coding effect when responses are presses of a left or right button on the steering wheel. Experiment 1 showed that the Simon effect was obtained for the left button but not the right button with a natural hand position, when a simulated infotainment display was located on the right of the steering wheel, simulating a right-hand vehicle cockpit. In Experiment 2, participants performed the same task, but with the display position on the left of the steering wheel, simulating a left-hand vehicle cockpit. The Simon effect in Experiment 2 tended to be smaller for left-hand responses than right-hand responses, but