Developing a Checklist for Cognitive Characteristics of Driving Scenarios in Dual-Task Studies: The Case of Cell Phone Use While Driving

Context: Recently, driving simulators have been widely used in various studies in the traffic safety domain, especially to investigate the effects of a mobile phone conversation on driving performance. As the characteristics of simulators and scenarios designed in previous studies were quite diverse, the cognitive workload resulting from scenarios in each study and their effects on the results varied significantly so that it made it difficult to compare the results. Therefore, the present study was conducted aiming at providing a checklist of cognitive specification control in this category of studies by investigating the methodological characteristics of previous studies. Evidence Acquisition: The articles were searched in Springer, Elsevier, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases during 2002 - 2017. The author used mobile phone, cell phone, driving simulator, distraction, and mental workload keywords with the “and” and “or” operators. Based on certain criteria, 14 articles were selected among the retrieved articles. Results: Methods and purposes of articles were evaluated in terms of factors affecting cognitive function. Based on reliable and valid scientific documents, a checklist of the cognitive profile of scenarios and simulators was designed and presented in three macro domains. Conclusions: Considering various simulator designs the scenario design characteristics effective in cognitive workload, the studies were not convergent so that different aspects of the main variables were reported in various studies. Inattention to reporting these variables led to the incorrect estimation of the effects of a mobile phone conversation on driving performance.