Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Driving with music: Effects on arousal and performance
Introduction
Among the various secondary tasks that drivers engage in while driving, listening to music or the radio seems to be the most common (Dibben & Williamson, 2007). Interestingly, drivers report listening to music habitually, and simply for the purpose of “killing time” on the road (North, Hargreaves, & Hargreaves, 2004). Why do drivers need to “kill time” while driving? Can such a need for listening to music be related to the driving task not being sufficiently stimulating all the time? Indeed, the driving task can be monotonous at times, especially while driving in highly predictable environments that are low in complexity. Research indicates that such environments can elicit the experience of adverse driver states, such as boredom or drowsiness resulting from lack of external stimulation (Nelson, 1997, Thiffault and Bergeron, 2003). Importantly, such states might incline drivers to be prone to inattention errors, such as failing to notice changes in the traffic environment on time, which might increase accident-likelihood (NHTSA, 2008). Hence, monotonous driving conditions low in complexity can be quite challenging to handle, as drivers might find it hard to focus on the important aspects of the driving task due to the lack of arousal and stimulation. In the current paper, we explore whether listening to music might provide the external stimulation needed to defeat boredom and to keep focused on the driving task in situations where both the driving task and the traffic environment are monotonous, such as car-following in low-complexity traffic. Importantly, we not only study the influence of music on performance in such monotonous low-complexity situations, but also whether arousal is a relevant process variable explaining how music may influence driving performance in monotonous conditions.
Studies on music and driving typically regard music as a secondary task that might be distracting to the driver. Various scholars have examined to what extent music disrupts one’s driving performance (Beh and Hirst, 1999, Brodsky, 2002, North and Hargreaves, 1999, Pêcher et al., 2009). Interestingly, in simulated driving studies, impairment in driving performance with the presence of music was seldom reported (Brodsky, 2002, Pêcher et al., 2009). In addition, drivers have been found to adopt cognitive or behavioural compensatory strategies while listening to music to cope with increased task demands and protect their driving performance, especially when they were in relatively high-complexity traffic settings (Hughes et al., 2013, Ünal et al., 2013, Ünal et al., 2012) or/and when music-listening was somewhat cognitively demanding, such as when the volume was high (see North & Hargreaves, 1999). For instance, as indicative of cognitive compensations (see Hockey, 1997), drivers invested more mental effort when driving and listening to music in a high-complexity traffic setting, and prioritized the driving task by blocking-out radio-content to a large extent while driving (Ünal et al., 2012, Ünal et al., 2013). Also, drivers who listened to demanding types of music (i.e., high volume and high tempo) were found to have longer lap times (due to lower speed) in a computer-based racing game as compared to drivers who listened to less demanding types of music (i.e., low volume and low tempo; North & Hargreaves, 1999). This finding indicated that drivers might compensate for the cognitive load induced by certain types of music by reducing their vehicles’ speed. So, there is evidence suggesting that when the traffic demands or listening demands (or both) are high, drivers cope with the increased task demands by adopting compensatory strategies. In many cases, however, driving does not take place in complex environments. Indeed, driving often involves monotonous conditions that are very low in complexity, such as prolonged driving on rural roads or car-following for extended periods. So, would drivers employ compensatory strategies while driving in low-complexity traffic settings as well? And how would music affect their driving performance?
To our knowledge, little is known about the influence of music on task performance in monotonous driving conditions. A study that examined the influence of loud music on driving performance in various conditions, including two driving tasks that took place in a highly-predictable environment (namely monotonous driving and car-following tasks, respectively), revealed that listening to loud music did not impair driving performance (Ünal et al., 2012). Specifically, music had no influence on the lateral vehicle control of participants in a monotonous driving task, while in a car-following task they even appeared to better respond to speed changes of the lead vehicle. These findings provide some preliminary evidence that the presence of music may increase vigilance while following a car in low complexity situations. However, the car-following task that was used in that study was relatively short (6 min), and was embedded within a hectic driving environment with many critical incidents, meaning that it was not monotonous. Hence, the questions of whether music would have no or positive effects on task performance in monotonous conditions in low-complexity settings and how performance is maintained in such conditions remain open.
Investigations regarding prolonged and monotonous driving conditions in the presence of other types of secondary tasks and in-vehicle distracters, such as talking on a mobile phone, indicate that such secondary tasks do not necessarily impair driving performance. For example, although some studies showed a negative influence of using a mobile phone on car-following performance, as reflected by delayed responses to speed changes of the lead vehicle (Alm and Nilsson, 1995, Brookhuis et al., 1991, Brookhuis et al., 1994, Lamble et al., 1999), this tendency of having higher response latencies was absent while driving in low-complexity traffic with less perceptual load (Strayer, Drews, & Johnston, 2003). In addition, lane-keeping performance, which is an indication of lateral vehicle-control, was maintained in car-following tasks that were accompanied by a secondary task such as dialling a number or executing a working memory task on a mobile phone (Alm and Nilsson, 1995, Lamble et al., 1999). Importantly, some studies revealed that car-control performance even improved in low-complexity driving situations with the presence of a secondary task as compared to when there was no secondary task (Atchley and Chan, 2011, Brookhuis et al., 1991, Verwey and Zaidel, 1999). For instance, drivers who were required to carry out a concurrent mobile-phone task exhibited less swerving on the road as compared to drivers who did not have the additional mobile phone task (Brookhuis et al., 1991). These findings indicate that, different to those observed in complex driving conditions, secondary tasks might not necessarily have adverse consequences on driving performance in monotonous conditions that are low in complexity. This raises the question of which processes will enable driving performance to be maintained or even improved in the presence of a secondary task such as music.
As stated earlier, monotonous driving in situations characterized by low complexity is associated with low-arousal driver states such as boredom, drowsiness or fatigue, and drivers lack vigilance when they experience such states (Nelson, 1997, O’Hanlon, 1981, Thiffault and Bergeron, 2003, Wertheim, 1991). One potential explanation for drivers performing well in monotonous conditions in the presence of secondary tasks is that these tasks may increase arousal to a more optimal level that would increase vigilance (Atchley and Chan, 2011, Heslop et al., 2010). This argument is in line with predictions of the Yerkes–Dodson law (Teigen, 1994, Yerkes and Dodson, 1908), which posits that the relationship between task performance and arousal can be depicted by an inverted U-shaped curve. When one’s arousal level is too high or too low, performance is predicted to be inhibited, while a moderate arousal level is expected to result in higher performance. Easterbrook (1959) explained this phenomenon by the cue-utilization theory, suggesting a link between arousal and attention. More specifically, Easterbrook (1959) argued that both under-arousal and over-arousal would have a negative influence on attention by impairing the efficient processing of the relevant cues needed to perform well on a task. However, a moderate level of arousal was associated with facilitating selective attention and the processing of relevant cues, resulting in a better performance attainment. Based on Easterbrook’s framework, we assume that in monotonous driving situations that are low in complexity, drivers would experience under-arousal due to the absence of external stimulation, which would impair their attentional processes. In such situations, performance might benefit from an external stimulation source, such as music, which would increase the arousal closer to optimal in monotonous situations, and thereby facilitate attention on the main task.
Research suggests that increases in arousal would particularly improve performance in easy tasks and less so in difficult tasks (Beh and Hirst, 1999, McGrath, 1963) because an arousing stimulus would influence mental workload and demands on information processing differently in simple and complex tasks. For instance, in difficult and complex tasks an additional arousing stimulus (e.g. loud noise) might increase mental workload above the ideal level, thereby competing for the cognitive capacity needed for primary task performance (Beh and Hirst, 1999, Boggs and Simon, 1968, Konečni and Sargent-Pollock, 1976). As a result, we might expect mental effort to increase due to task-related factors (e.g., task-demands). In relatively easy and monotonous tasks, however, performers have a higher threshold for arousal, and therefore, an arousing stimulus can be tolerated well (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). Interestingly, for monotonous tasks, an increase in mental effort might be expected when the arousal level is below ideal and when the performer is deactivated due to feelings of fatigue or boredom (De Waard, 1996, Hancock and Verwey, 1997, Warm et al., 1996, Warm et al., 2008). This type of effort that is mobilized as a consequence of monotony is called state-related effort or compensatory effort (see De Waard and Brookhuis, 1997, Mulder, 1986), meaning that drivers are inclined to invest more effort in the driving task in order to keep focused despite being bored or fatigued. Based on this reasoning, we assume that in highly monotonous tasks, increases in arousal might lead to a decrease in required mental effort investment by reducing state-related demands (i.e., fighting boredom or fatigue), which may increase vigilance, as a result of which driving performance would be secured. Can music provide the drivers with the levels of arousal that is needed to handle dull monotonous driving tasks?
Music, and especially some aspects of music that are associated with high energy such as loud and high tempo music, has been documented to increase self-reported and physiological arousal (Dalton et al., 2007, Davenport, 1972, Fontaine and Schwalm, 1979, Husain et al., 2002, Konečni and Sargent-Pollock, 1976, McNamara and Ballard, 1999, North and Hargreaves, 1999). However, little is known about the relationship between music and arousal in monotonous driving conditions. Similarly, although there is preliminary evidence suggesting that in high-complexity environments music might increase mental effort by competing for the shared resources needed for the driving task (Ünal et al., 2012), to our knowledge, as yet no study has tested how mental effort is affected by music in monotonous driving conditions that are very low in complexity. In the current study, we aim to investigate these issues by employing a monotonous car-following task that takes place in a low complexity traffic setting, and examine how music-induced arousal affects driving performance, arousal, and mental effort in such settings. In addition, as individuals might have a higher threshold for arousal when busy with tasks that are not complex (McGrath, 1963, Yerkes and Dodson, 1908), we manipulate the loudness of music in an attempt to test whether loud (i.e., 85 dB) music with a higher arousal potential will improve performance on a monotonous car-following task more than moderate volume music (i.e., 70 dB) with a lower arousal potential. Studies suggest that both arousal and mental effort can be inferred from physiological changes, and especially, by changes in heart-rate (arousal) and heart-rate variability (mental effort; Dalton et al., 2007, Mulder et al., 2005). In the current study, we not only assess arousal by self-reports but also by means of heart-rate data. In addition, heart rate (variability) information is used to track changes in mental effort.
Based on the above, and in line with the Yerkes–Dodson law (1908) and findings on the positive or nonnegative effects of secondary tasks on performance in monotonous tasks (Brookhuis et al., 1991, Heslop et al., 2010, Mayfield and Moss, 1989), we hypothesize that listening to music will either have no effect or positive effects on performance in a monotonous car-following task (Hypothesis 1). Hence, we expect that music will not impair car-following performance. Second, based on the premises of the cue utilization theory (Easterbrook, 1959), we hypothesize that the arousal level of the participants, as measured by both self-reports and the physiological indicator mean heart rate, will be higher when the monotonous driving task is accompanied by music as compared to when it is not accompanied by music (Hypothesis 2a). We further hypothesize that the influence of music on arousal will be more pronounced when driving with loud volume music as compared to when driving with moderate volume music (Hypothesis 2b). Lastly, in line with the literature on increased mental workload in monotonous driving conditions that are low in complexity (see De Waard, 1996), we hypothesize that mental effort as inferred from the physiological indicator heart-rate variability will be higher in the absence of music than in the presence of music (Hypothesis 3).
Section snippets
Participants
Fifty-two psychology students of the University of Groningen participated in the study in exchange for course credits. Five of the participants suffered from simulation sickness, and could not complete the simulated drive. Therefore, data analyses were carried out with the remaining 47 participants (21 female, 26 male) whose ages ranged from 19 to 25, with a mean age of 20.7 years (SD = 1.34). Participants’ mean driving experience was 2.6 years (SD = 1.61), and they drove on average 5107 km in the
Accuracy in car-following (coherence)
Initially, an overall mixed-ANOVA was run with all six coherence scores in the music and no-music conditions as a within-subjects factor, and loudness as a between-groups factor. Results revealed a significant multivariate effect for coherence (F(11, 22) = 2.77, p < .05), which implies that there might be within-subjects differences while driving with music and without music over a 30-min long drive. In addition, we found a significant group difference in coherence (F(1, 32) = 8.62, p < .01, ).
Discussion
In the current study, the influence of music on driving performance in monotonous and low-complexity driving conditions was examined. We first hypothesized that listening to music would either have no effects or a positive effect on performance in a car-following task (Hypothesis 1). Second, we hypothesized that arousal level of the participants would be higher when the driving task was accompanied by music as compared to when it is not accompanied by music (Hypothesis 2a). We further
Limitations and future research
The current research had some limitations. First, although driving simulators are being commonly used in traffic research due to their practicality and high level of experimental control, replications of the study in real-life driving settings, such as via on-road assessments involving monotonous driving tasks, are needed in order to ensure the generalizability of the findings. Second, in the current study, we aimed at a high ecological validity in terms of the music stimuli, and therefore,
Conclusions
The current study aimed to explore how music affects driving performance in monotonous driving situations marked by low-complexity. Our findings revealed that listening to music does not impair performance in a car-following task. Rather, we found that music did not inhibit performance and even positively affected performance in relation to lane-keeping and responding to the speed changes of a lead vehicle in a car-following task. In addition, we showed that music increased arousal while
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our student assistants Jessica Wulf and Ritwik Swain for their help during data collecting. We would also like to thank Chris Dijksterhuis for his help in creating the simulated world, and Peter van Wolffelaar for programming the car-following task.
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