Transfer and Retention: A Systematic Exploration of the Effect of a Driver Attention Training Program

Abstract

Young drivers are found to be particularly poor at anticipating latent hazards compared to experienced drivers. Road Awareness and Perception Training (RAPT; Pradhan et al., 2009) is a PC-based driver training program that was designed and demonstrated to improve latent hazard anticipation in young drivers. The current longitudinal study aims to examine retention and transfer of RAPT. Participants will complete pre- and post-training evaluation of their latent hazard anticipation skills in both near- and far-transfer scenarios, and all participants will be randomly assigned to either a RAPT or Placebo training group. Two months later, they will be asked to return for the second evaluation session where their latent hazard anticipation skills will be measured again. We hypothesize that latent hazard anticipation performance will persist for the near-transfer scenarios but decay for the far-transfer scenarios.