Use of a virtual reality driving simulator as an alcohol abuse prevention approach with college students.

Use of a virtual reality driving simulator as an alcohol abuse prevention approach with college students. Dear Editor: A study by Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein and Wechsler (2002)reported alarming estimates of the number of U.S. college students inthe age range 18-24 in 1998 who experienced alcohol-related problems:over 1400 students died (including motor vehicle accidents motor vehicle accidentPublic healthA morbid condition that kills 45,000/yr–US; 60% are < age 35; MVAs account for 500,000 hospitalizations and most 20,000 spinal cord injuries, at a cost of $75 billion/yr ), over 2million of 8 million college students drove under the influence, andover 3 million of 8 million college students rode with a drunk driver. Avariety of approaches have been employed to try to reduce the risksassociated with the consumption of alcohol among young people, includingpromising new approaches that include some type of experiential ex��pe��ri��en��tial?adj.Relating to or derived from experience.ex��peri��en learning. An example of such an approach is the "Road ReadyTeens" videogame developed by several groups (e.g., Mothers AgainstDrunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization with more than 600 chapters nationwide. MADD seeks to find effective solutions to the problems of drunk driving and underage drinking, while also supporting those persons whose relatives and friends have been killed by drunk ; MADD MADDMothers Against Drunk Drivers Public health An organization that advocates stricter legislation against DUI and underage drinking, and provides support services for victims of DUI collisions. See DUI. , 2003) to increase teenagers' awareness andunderstanding of driving risks, including driving while drunk. Anevaluation of this game by The University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. TransportationInstitute showed that playing the game increased a group of twenty-fiveteenagers' perceptions of personal driving risk (Bingham &Shope, 2003). Researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR UMR Unite Mixte de Recherche (French: Mixed Unit of Research )UMR University of Missouri - RollaUMR Upper Mississippi RiverUMR Uniform Methods and Rules (US Department of Agriculture)UMR Unit Manning Report ) developed apersonal computer (PC) based virtual reality (VR) driving simulator Driving Simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, thatincluded a simulation of the effects of driving while drunk. The"Road Ready Teens" video game also included a drunk drivingcomponent and participants in the evaluation study conducted by theUniversity of Michigan Transportation Institute reported that the gamewas a more engaging mechanism in comparison to written materials forcommunicating with teenagers. However, some of the young peopleexpressed the criticism that they thought video games See video game console. were "forfun" and not "for education" (Bingham & Shope, 2003). In contrast, the UMR driving stimulator was clearly designed andpresented to participants as an educational tool and not as a gameexperience. Our study attempted to evaluate the VR Driving Simulator in orderto: (1) establish the internal validity Internal validity is a form of experimental validity [1]. An experiment is said to possess internal validity if it properly demonstrates a causal relation between two variables [2] [3]. of the drunk driving simulationby comparing participants' performances under a "sober"condition to a "driving drunk" condition; and (2) assess theexternal validity External validity is a form of experimental validity.[1] An experiment is said to possess external validity if the experiment’s results hold across different experimental settings, procedures and participants. of the simulator (1) Software that enables the execution of an application written for a different computer environment. Same as emulator.(2) Software that models the interactions of hypothetical or real-world objects or business processes. by asking subjects about their futurelikelihood of engaging in drinking and driving and their generalexpectancies regarding the use of alcohol. Participants in our study were 86 undergraduate students enrolledin Introductory Psychology classes at the University of Missouri-Rolla.They completed the study as part of their course requirements.Thirty-one students participated in the driving simulator condition and55 students in a control group condition. Consistent with the campuscomposition, there were 51 males and 35 females and the average age was20.9 years. On a background information sheet, students were asked thenumber of times in the past two weeks that they had four or more drinks(if female) or five drinks (if male) at a single setting. For purposesof analysis in our study, this provided an index of "bingedrinking binge drinkingAn early phase of chronic alcoholism, characterized by episodic 'flirtation' with the bottle by binges of drinking to the point of stupor, followed by periods of abstinence; BD is accompanied by alcoholic ketoacidosis–accelerated lipolysis and ." The virtual reality driving simulator was restricted to a singledesktop computer and screen to make it more portable and affordable infuture research and educational endeavors. The plug and play capabilityof the hardware in this setup was also an important consideration in itscreation. The virtual simulator consisted of two parts, the static world(scene data) and the moving entities. The scenario development wascarried out using an event based triggering method. In the simulation,the image responded to input from the steering wheel, accelerator, andbrake. There was also appropriate accompanying visual and soundfeedback. The synchronization (1) See synchronous and synchronous transmission.(2) Ensuring that two sets of data are always the same. See data synchronization.(3) Keeping time-of-day clocks in two devices set to the same time. See NTP. was provided by a vehicle dynamics Vehicle dynamics refers to the dynamics of vehicles, here assumed to be ground vehicles.For two-wheeled vehicles see Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics. For the dynamics of air vehicles see Aerodynamics. model,the core component of the driving simulation system. The vehicle modelimplemented in this system consisted of different mathematical models Note: The term model has a different meaning in model theory, a branch of mathematical logic. An artifact which is used to illustrate a mathematical idea is also called a mathematical model and this usage is the reverse of the sense explained below. for various parts of the vehicle such as steering, engine, driveline drive��line?n.See drive train. ,differential, aerodynamics aerodynamics,study of gases in motion. As the principal application of aerodynamics is the design of aircraft, air is the gas with which the science is most concerned. , and tires. A scoring system Noun 1. scoring system - a system of classifying according to quality or merit or amountrating systemclassification system - a system for classifying things constantlymonitored the driver's performance during the experiment. To equate the drivers in their skill levels before beginning theexperiment, participants in the VR simulator condition completed adriver training task. In the training task, participants completed adriving course that familiarized fa��mil��iar��ize?tr.v. fa��mil��iar��ized, fa��mil��iar��iz��ing, fa��mil��iar��iz��es1. To make known, recognized, or familiar.2. To make acquainted with. them with the apparatus and controldevices. They had to complete the training course without losing morethan a total of four points (using a scoring system to be describedlater) before they could start the actual driving tests. In the actualexperiment, there were two driving tests: a "sober driving"task and a "drunk-driving" task where the controls werespecifically modified to simulate the effects of driving while drunk. Tocontrol for order effects, the order of the drunk versus sober drivingtests was decided randomly by a coin flip. Moskowitz et al. (2000) also showed that longer reaction times areassociated with consuming alcohol and are related to delays in thedecision to act and uncertainty about what action to take. Based on thisconcept, it was possible to create a similar situation by implementingreaction time lags in the control devices of the simulator. This wasachieved by creating a time lag between the moment of making a responseusing the hardware of the simulator and the corresponding change in theresponse of the simulator. Moskowitz et al. (2000) showed that theaverage increase in reaction time for individuals consuming alcohol inthe age group 21-24 is 0.5 seconds. Thus a delay of 0.5 seconds wasadded to the controls of the simulator including steering, brake pedal pedal/ped��al/ (ped��'l) pertaining to the foot or feet. ped��aladj.Of or relating to a foot or footlike part. ,and accelerator pedal under the "drunk driving" condition. A standardized standardizedpertaining to data that have been submitted to standardization procedures.standardized morbidity ratesee morbidity rate.standardized mortality ratesee mortality rate. set of instructions was read to all subjects. Aftercompleting the driving tests, subjects were shown bar graphs of theirdriving mistakes and their performance on the auditory auditory/au��di��to��ry/ (aw��di-tor?e)1. aural or otic; pertaining to the ear.2. pertaining to hearing.au��di��to��ryadj. shadowing taskunder the sober versus drunk conditions. Students in the no treatmentcontrol group filled out the same questionnaires that all otherparticipants completed but did not experience any type of educationalprogram. In order to make the driving task as realistic as possible,different scenarios were designed to include day-to-day situations. Tomaintain similarity between the sober and drunk driving tests, the twotesting tracks were essentially the same except that the time andlocation of events in the two tracks were different. The two testingscenarios were designed such that the driver could complete either onein about ten minutes. A participant was told to obey a maximum speed limit of 35 milesper hour throughout the driving test. The student was able to view thesurroundings in the same way that someone would be able to do if theywere sitting in the driver's seat driv��er's seatn.A position of control or authority. in a real car (e.g., they couldsee the car dashboard, speedometer speedometer,instrument that indicates speed. A cable from an automotive speedometer is attached to the rear of the transmission of an automobile; the cable turns at a rate proportional to the speed of the car. , and what was behind them in a rearview mirror). The participant experienced a series of events (e.g.,traffic lights, people crossing the street, cars passing by, etc.) whiledriving--events which were designed specifically as part of the testingscenario. The events involved a triggering method based on the positionof the driver's vehicle in the virtual world. The participant wasguided through the environment with visual cues. A red arrow appeared inthe lower left or right side of the screen indicating which directionhe/she should turn at the next intersection; and the arrow would go offwhen the turn was completed. While completing these driving tasks, participants were alsorequired to simultaneously perform an auditory shadowing task. Research(Moskowitz, Burns, Fiorentino, Smiley See emoticon. smiley - emoticon , & Zador, 2000) has shown thata major negative effect of alcohol on driving skills is a reduction inthe driver's ability to divide his/her attention (e.g., converse (logic) converse - The truth of a proposition of the form A => B and its converse B => A are shown in the following truth table:A B | A => B B => A ------+---------------- f f | t t f t | t f t f | f t t t | t t ona cell phone while paying attention Noun 1. paying attention - paying particular notice (as to children or helpless people); "his attentiveness to her wishes"; "he spends without heed to the consequences"attentiveness, heed, regard to driving cues). The auditoryshadowing task was employed in our study because it involved the sametype of response and has similar time and attentional demands as talkingon a cell phone. It was run on a different computer system from thesimulator. The application consisted of two audio threads played in the twoears of a set of headphones Head-mounted speakers. Headphones have a strap that rests on top of the head, positioning a pair of speakers over both ears. For listening to music or monitoring live performances and audio tracks, both left and right channels are required. that drivers wore while completing thesimulator test drives. The pre-recorded audio threads were made ofdifferent words that were spoken at random time intervals. Theparticipant's task was to respond to the words that were spokenonly in his/her right ear by repeating them aloud. Participants weretold to ignore all words presented in the left ear. "White"noise was played in both ears continuously in order to avoid anyinterfering noise Interfering noises(or interfering sounds) are sounds with a negative sound quality, that is, the sound event leads to a hearing event, which is perceived as unpleasant, disturbing and interfering. . The performance measurements for the driving task involved keepingtrack of driving mistakes through the use of a continuously runningperformance measurement module in the background while a participant wasperforming one of the driving tests. The mistakes a driver could makeincluded deviations in driving speed, number and type of collisions,failure to follow speed limits, failure to respond to traffic lights andtraffic signs, and the driver's failure to keep their vehicle undercontrol. At the end of their test drives, participants were shown twographs. These graphs showed the total points lost in the two tests andthe total time taken to complete the two tests. The performance measurements for the auditory shadowing task alsoinvolved use of a performance measurement module that was continuouslyrunning in the background while a subject was performing one of thedriving tests. The measurements taken included the response time foreach word and the number of missed or wrongly responded to words. Theperformance measurement results on each of these tasks were also shownto the driver in terms of bar graphs. As an initial step toward exploring the external validity of the VRsimulator, two questionnaires were passed out to all participants, theCognitive Appraisal of Risky Activities questionnaire (CARE; Fromme,Katz, & Rivet, 1997) and The Alcohol Expectancy Multi-AxialAssessment (AEMax; Goldman & Darkes, 2004). The CARE measuresrespondents' beliefs about the consequences of 30 risky activitieswith four subscales, i.e., possible negative consequences associatedwith each risky activity, possible positive consequences, expectedinvolvement in these activities in the next six weeks, and actualinvolvement. However, in the current study, the 30 item subscale relatedto "actual involvement" was not used. Although all 30 itemsfrom each of three sub-scales of the CARE were given to subjects, in thepresent investigation only the five items having to do with alcohol wereused later in the analysis of results. Research by Fromme and colleagueshas shown good test-retest reliability test-retest reliabilityPsychology A measure of the ability of a psychologic testing instrument to yield the same result for a single Pt at 2 different test periods, which are closely spaced so that any variation detected reflects reliability of the instrument for the CARE with values ofPearson's r that ranged from .51 to .79 and good criterion validity The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter.Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. in terms of scores being significantly related to actual risk takingbehaviors. The AEMax is a recently developed comprehensive questionnaire thatassesses subjects' global positive and negative expectanciesassociated with the use of alcohol (Goldman & Darkes, 2004). We usedthe 24-item short version of the AEMax (eight octants measured withthree items per octant). Research indicates that the AEMax is predictiveof concurrent and future drinking behavior among college students andthat it also significantly correlates with other measures for expectancyof alcohol effects. The results of the study showed that the VR simulator had very goodinternal validity: all of the comparisons with regard to the differencesbetween how participants performed under the "driving sober"versus "driving drunk" conditions were significant. Studentsshowed clear decrements under the drunk driving condition with regard toboth their driving performance and their ability to perform the auditoryshadowing task. Moreover, there were no order effects. A comparison ofscores obtained by participants who experienced the"sober-driving" condition first and those who underwent the"drunk-driving" condition first showed no significantdifferences in their scores on any of the measures used in this study. Drivers made a significantly [F(1, 29) = 325.48, p < .0001]greater number of driving errors in the "drunk" than in the"sober" condition. The number of errors in the drunk condition(mean = 93.81 points) was, in fact, more than three times greater thanthat of the sober condition (mean = 27.19 points). Additionally, it tookdrivers significantly [F(1, 29) = 72.48, p < .0001] longer tocomplete the driving simulation task under the "drunk"condition (mean = 621.11 seconds) than under the "sober"condition (mean = 511.30 seconds). A similarly impressive set of differences was found with regard tohow subjects performed on the auditory shadowing task. The averageresponse time was significantly greater [F(1, 29) = 6.57, p < .02]for the drunk condition (mean = 1.83 seconds) than for the sobercondition (mean = 1.65 seconds) and the number of omitted words was alsosignificantly [F(1, 29) = 24.13,p < .001] greater when participantswere "drunk" (mean = 3.8 words) than "sober" (mean =1.9 words). The CARE and AEMax questionnaires were used to address the issue ofthe external validity of the effects on people of the VR drivingsimulator. To remove individual differences regarding the drinkinghabits of subjects prior to the start of the study, frequency of"binge" drinking, i.e., the number of times in the past twoweeks a subject had four or more drinks (if female) or five (if male) ata single sitting, was used as a covariate. Similarly, age of respondentwas also used as a covariate. CARE scores were analyzed by means of a 2 (treatment versuscontrol) X 2 (male versus female) multivariate The use of multiple variables in a forecasting model. analyses of variance(MANOVA MANOVA Multivariate Analysis of the Variance ) using binge drinking and age as covariates. Only binge drinkingwas significant [[LAMBDA The Greek letter "L," which is used as a symbol for "wavelength." A lambda is a particular frequency of light, and the term is widely used in optical networking. Sending "multiple lambdas" down a fiber is the same as sending "multiple frequencies" or "multiple colors. ], F(15, 66) = 5.73, p < .000]. None of theother variables, i.e., treatment versus control [[LAMBDA], F(15, 66) =1.34, p < .20], male versus female [[LAMBDA], F(15, 66) = 1.34, p< .20], treatment/control X male/female [[LAMBDA], F(15, 66) = .75, p< .72] interaction, or age [A, F(15, 66) = 1.37, p < .19] weresignificant. This indicated that participation in the virtual realityexperiment had little effect on changing expectancies or attitudesregarding drinking alcohol. AEMax scores were also analyzed by means of a 2 (treatment versuscontrol) X 2 (male versus female) multivariate analysis multivariate analysis,n a statistical approach used to evaluate multiple variables.multivariate analysis,n a set of techniques used when variation in several variables has to be studied simultaneously. of variance(MANOVA) with age and binge drinking serving as covariates. While thebinge drinking variable was significant [[LAMBDA], F(8, 73) = 4.63, p< .000], none of the others were, i.e., treatment versus control[[LAMBDA], F(8,73) = 1.34, p < .20], male versus female [[LAMBDA],F(8,73) = .69, p < .70], treatment/control X male/female [[LAMBDA],F(8, 73) = .56, p < .81], or age [[LAMBDA], F(8, 73) = 1.63, p <.13]. These results again indicated that participation in the virtualreality simulation, age of participant, and sex of participant hadlittle impact on expectancies toward alcohol. Results of this study with regard to the internal validity of theVR Driving Simulator were impressive: participants clearly committedmore driving errors while under the "drunk driving" conditionand also showed poorer performance on the divided attention task. As aconcept, the VR simulator has exciting possibilities as an experientialeducation The perspective and/or examples in this article do not represent a world-wide view. Please [ edit] this page to improve its geographical balance. tool. It clearly avoids the complex legal and ethical problemsinvolved in actually giving alcohol to humans, and especially to youngpeople. With regard to our initial attempt to assess the external validityof the VR driving simulator, the results were disappointing as nosignificant differences were found with regard to the likelihood ofstudents engaging in future drinking and driving behavior, or for anychanges in their expectancies regarding the use of alcohol. This failureto find significant results for this aspect of the study is similar tothe results reported by The University of Michigan TransportationInstitute in their evaluation of the "Road Ready Teens"videogame (Bingham & Shope, 2003). The videogame, which alsoincluded a drunk driving experience, similarly did not impactsubjects' intentions to avoid future risky driving behavior.Moreover, the participants in this study commented on the fact that thevideogame lacked realistic feedback about the consequences of making"real life" driving mistakes, e.g., the degree of injury,possible repair costs, and damage from hitting obstacles. Recent research in JADE jade,common name for either of two minerals used as gems. The rarer variety of jade is jadeite, a sodium aluminum silicate, NaAl(SiO3)2, usually white or green in color; the green variety is the more valuable. evaluating another experiential approach toalcohol education by Jewell, Hupp, and Luttress (2004) has also raisedthis issue, i.e., the possible need for making explicit connectionsbetween a subject's experiences and the real life consequences ofalcohol abuse (connections which were also lacking in our VRexperiential approach). Jewell and colleagues examined the effectivenessof the "Fatal Vision Goggles goggles,n the protective eyewear worn by dental personnel and patients during dental procedures.gogglessee periocular leukotrichia. " as a prevention tool forchanging attitudes toward drinking. The goggles are an eye glass devicethat simulates the effects of alcohol by distorting the wearer'sperception with respect to vision and sense of balance (Innocorp, LTD LTD1 Laron-type dwarfism 2 Leukotriene D 3 Long-term depression, see there 4. Long-term disability .,1997). In an experimental study comparing a control group, the groupwearing the goggles, and a group of onlookers, Jewell and colleaguesreported that participants in the goggles condition showing asignificantly greater change in attitudes. However, before anypost-treatment measures were taken, all participants in this studyviewed a videotape videotapeMagnetic tape used to record visual images and sound, or the recording itself. There are two types of videotape recorders, the transverse (or quad) and the helical. "that is typically used during drinking anddriving prevention programs, which recounts the story of a parent whoseson died in a collision caused by a drunk driver (p. 71)." It maybe that with experiential approaches, the connection between aparticipant's experiences of disrupted functioning and the possiblenegative consequences of drinking and driving need to be explicitly madeto the participants. Future research is needed to explore thispossibility. Overall, the present study's results were positive in showingthat the virtual reality simulator could be a safe, ethical andeffective approach to educating young people about the dangers ofdrinking and driving. More work is needed, however, to demonstrate theimpact of the VR simulator on expectancies and future behavior and theneed to include more connections with realistic consequences associatedwith drunk driving. References Bingham, C. R. & Shope, J. T. (2003). An Evaluation of the RoadReady Teens Video Game: Final Report. University of MichiganTransportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor Ann Arbor,city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , MI (UMTRI-2003-28). Fromm, K., Katz, E. C., & Rivet, K. (1997). Outcomeexpectancies and risk-taking behavior. Cognitive Research and Therapy,21,421-442. Goldman, M. S., & Darkes, J. (2004) Alcohol ExpectancyMulti-Axial Assessment: A memory network-based approach. PsychologicalAssessment, 16, 4-15. Hingson, R. W., Heeren, T., Zakocs, R. C., Kopstein, A., &Wechsler, H. (2002). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality andmorbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24. Journal of Studies onAlcohol, 3, 136-144. Innocorp, LTD. (1997). The Straight Line, 1. Jewell, J., Hupp, S., & Luttress, G. (2004). The effectivenessof fatal vision goggles: Disentangling experiential versus onlookereffects. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 48, 3, p. 63-84. MADD, Teen safety program launches video game that increasesawareness of driving risks. Retreived October 17, 2003 fromhttp://www.madd.org/news/0,1056,7243.00.html Moskowitz, H., Burns, M. Fiorentino, D., Smiley, A., & Zador,P. (2000). Driver Characteristics and Impairment Impairment1. A reduction in a company's stated capital.2. The total capital that is less than the par value of the company's capital stock.Notes:1. This is usually reduced because of poorly estimated losses or gains.2. at Various BACs,Technical Report, U.S. Department of Transportation, contract#DTNH-22-95-C-05000. Frances Haemmerlie Montgomery, Ming C. Leu Leuleucine. Leuabbr.leucineLeuleucine. , Robert L. Montgomery,Michael D. Nelson, and Mannish man��nish?adj.1. Of, characteristic of, or natural to a man.2. Resembling, imitative of, or suggestive of a man rather than a woman: a mannish stride.See Synonyms at male. Sirdeshmukh, University of Missouri-Rolla Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed toFrances Haemmerlie Montgomery, Department of Psychology, 114Humanities/Social Sciences Building, 1870 Miner Circle, University ofMissouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri Alternate uses: see Rolla (disambiguation).Rolla is a city in Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,367 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Phelps CountyGR6. 65409. Phone: (573) 341-4810. E-mail:berner@umr.edu.