HCI Guidelines to Reduce Cognitive Distraction Among Drivers

Abstract

Driver Distraction is a very common phenomenon observed in automobile drivers. This can be due to several factors ranging from mobile phone usage to talking to co-passengers, etc. In recent years, most cars are being fitted with screens on the dashboards. These dashboard screens serve various purposes. They are used for marketing purposes, infotainment access, car information, etc. Regardless of the purpose, these screens are becoming increasingly prominent in cars. Even though these screens offer functionalities, the fact is that they cause distraction among drivers. This is extremely fatal. In this thesis, we focused on identifying guidelines for designing the interfaces in automobiles that will reduce cognitive distraction. We first conducted a literature review to find out the reasons for cognitive distraction. Cognitive Distraction is caused because of overload in cognitive abilities that distracts a person from performing a task. Cognitive Load is typically classified into three categories: 1) Intrinsic Cognitive Load 2) Extraneous Cognitive Load and 3) Germane Cognitive Load. Extraneous Cognitive Load is caused due to how information is presented to users. If the design of the interfaces is poor, then it causes Extraneous Cognitive Load to increase which in turn causes distraction. Intrinsic Cognitive Load and Germane Cognitive Load cannot be controlled. But efforts can be made to reduce the Extraneous Cognitive Load since it is in the hands of the designer how they want to present the information. Subsequently, a literature review is conducted in Human Computer Interaction. HCI is the study of designing, implementing and evaluating interfaces that humans use to communicate with computers and vice versa. HCI guidelines help in designing an effective and userfriendly interface. But there are hardly any guidelines that apply to distracted driving scenarios. We went through different researches and identified a set of principles that apply to distracted driving scenarios. Finally, an experiment was conducted to check the effectiveness of the set of principles identified. 63 participants were surveyed in this experiment. We found that the principles we have identified would help designers in creating effective interfaces for drivers in automobiles.