Auton, Jaime, C.; McCosh, Wayne; Wiggins, Mark, W.; Morrison, Ben, W.; Molesworth, Brett.

Motor vehicle driving is a cognitively demanding task requiring ongoing situation assessment. The widespread use of smart watches and phones have increased the potential for driver distraction, which may reduce the identification of hazards in the environment (Brodeur et al., 2021). One cognitive process which has been shown to enable drivers to rapidly identify potential hazards while also reducing cognitive load is the application of cues (Sturman & Wiggins, 2019). The ability to develop and utilise cues, referred to as cue utilisation, can be assessed using the online situational judgement test, EXPERTise 2.0 (Wiggins et al., 2015). Cues are developed through experience and repeated exposure to situation-specific environmental features and task events (Lansdale et al., 2010). However, it is currently unclear whether changes in driving behaviour alter the capacity to apply cues while driving, and if so, whether EXPERTise 2.0 is sensitive to such changes. It was hypothesised that recent hours spent driving would predict relatively higher cue utilisation, and that higher cue utilisation would predict fewer driving errors and a greater capacity to manage the distractions associated with smart watch text messages. In this experiment, participants completed the motor-vehicle driving edition of EXPERTise 2.0, a questionnaire on recent driving experience, and four separate simulated drives while wearing an Apple smart watch. The study employed a 2 x 2 x 2 mixed design, with distraction (smart watch messages vs. no messages) and traffic (low density vs. high density) as within participant variables and cue utilisation (lower vs. higher) as a between participants variable. The outcomes of this study will explore the extent to which EXPERTise 2.0 is sensitive to changes in cognitive skill associated with changes in driving behaviour, and whether this cognitive skill enables drivers to better manage distractions and avoid hazards in varying traffic conditions. Practical applications of this research include the potential to provide comparative feedback to drivers concerning their cognitive driving skills and the associated need for training and experience.

- Identify the benefits associated with cue utilisation in the context of driving.
- Understand the relationship between cue utilisation and cognitive skill.