An empirical study to examine sex differences in cognitive distraction among drivers

There are basically 3 different types of driver distraction: manual, visual and cognitive. This paper focused on cognitive distraction on drivers. Cognitive distraction is occurred when a driver´s mind is off from the road. Drivers are might probably see and realize objects and the environment on the road, and manually handle their vehicle safely, but their minds are thinking something that are not related to a driving safety issue. Cognitive distraction is quite difficult to be detected compare to manual and visual distraction, thus, it is the most dangerous type of distraction. This paper is to compare men and women distractions cognitively. A physiological measurement specifically on eyes has been used as the feature to detect driver´s cognitive distraction. Information on blinking frequency, blinking duration, gaze rotation and pupil diameter has been captured using faceLab Seeing Machine cameras. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test and means from each men and women have been presented in bar graphs.