The Relationship between Drivers' Hazard Perception Ability and Cognitive Traits of Empathizing-Systemizing: Pilot Study based on Gaze Response Speed

Introduction: Previous research (Danno & Taniguchi, 2015) demonstrated 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 questionnaire survey [1]. It means that drivers with a low EQ and a high SQ had a higher rate of near-miss incidents. It was claimed that drivers with a stronger Empathizing function may have better danger perception ability, despite the fact that when Empathizing is poor, the Systemizing function may weaken hazard perception ability. The D score (standard SQ (T) score minus standard EQ (T) score) that near-miss incident was then discovered to have a considerable impact on the near-miss occurrence experience.

Method: Those findings suggested that a D score, which is used to categorise "E-S types," should be related to near-miss incident experience, i.e., hazard perception ability. The D scores were supposed to be related to the cognitive ability to estimate the mental situations of other road users and predict their behaviour, or to recognise stable laws in traffic situations. The purpose of this study was to look directly at the relationship between a driver's physical visual attention ability (gaze movement) and hazard (near-miss incident) perception ability at various D levels. Drivers' Real-time Useful Field of View (rUFOV) [2] was measured in a driving simulator with six traffic scenarios under normal and hasty driving conditions.

Results: The results of seven individuals with various D scores revealed that under hasty driving conditions, a driver's visual attention capacity (gaze movement) falls in proportion to their scores.

Conclusion: Since a D score is used to categorise "E-S types," this pilot study highlighted the prospect that individual differences in cognitive trait using the E-S model could be a promising tool for understanding the process of hazard perception.