Validity of Multi-modal Stimulus Detection Task for Measuring Driver’s Mental Load for Operation of IVIS during Actual Driving

Abstract

We measured a driver’s mental load for the operation of a navigation system, using a multi-modal stimulus detection task (MSDT) in a driving simulation and in actual driving. Under both experimental environments, the participants drove while performing navigation system operation tasks and the MSDT. The MSDT imposed stimulus detection with visual, tactile, and auditory modalities on participants.Most of the detection performance indices showed the same deteriorations in both environments. These results indicate that the MSDT evaluated the mental load of navigation system operation to a certain extent in both environments.