Countywide help Sussex University with Research

Countywide Driving School Instructor Gordon Cook and one of his student's Gustav Kuhn have been helping the Department of Neuroscience at the School of Biological Studies, University of Sussex with their research into eye-movements.

The development of eye-movement patterns in learner drivers - Cath Hughes BSc.

"In everyday life we make a constant stream of eye movements in order to manoeuvre quickly and easily through the world. Eye movements enable as to quickly turn our visual attention to those points in a scene that are necessary to carry out a task, whether it is to walk down the street, play the piano or drive a car. By taking in this information we can make judgments about what our next move must be. Driving is particularly good activity to monitor eye-movements as it requires full concentration by the subject, leaving the eye movements as close to natural as possib1e.

In this study we are looking at the eye-movements of learner driver, Gustav Kuhn, from the start of his very first lesson in order to see the development of patterns of eye movements that emerge for tasks such as turning a corner or pulling out of a junction. We have seen in previous tests that experienced drivers appear to have an underlying pattern of eye movements for these tasks, that allow all of the necessary information to be obtained, such that the amount of steering and the control of speed can be adjusted accordingly, and within a matter of seconds.
The headset worn by Gustav, developed by my supervisor Professor Mike Land, has a small camera that records, with the aid of mirrors, both the eye and the scene ahead during typical driving lessons with Gordon Cook from Countywide Driving School. The video is then analyzed through a computer program that calculates where the subject is looking according to the eye position.
Countywide Car

All geared up

 The results from this will not only give us more of an insight into the development of eye-movement patterns in learning, but may also provide instructors with more of an accurate idea about where pupils are looking and how this may be altered to make the most of the visual information available, which may have important implications for improving road safety."

Further details of research and trials available from Countywide Driving School

Cath Hughes BSc. (1st Year Postgraduate DPhil

Dept. Neuroscience, School of Biological Sciences

University of Sussex ) studies result on the laptop