Measuring susceptibility to alerts while encountering mental workload

This work-in-progress reports two studies that test if cognitive load reduces human susceptibility to auditory alerts. Previous studies showed that susceptibility (measured using Event-Related Potentials) is reduced when people perform visual or manual tasks, including in driving settings. We investigate whether a cognitively distracting task, without visual and manual components, also reduces susceptibility. Study one suggests that, outside of a driving context, performance of such a cognitively distracting task reduces susceptibility to auditory alerts compared to baseline without distraction. Study two suggests that susceptibility is also reduced when people perform a cognitively distracting task during automated driving. The results have important implications for semi-automated vehicles. Such vehicles rely on alerts to initiate a take-over of control by the human driver. However, if the human is distracted by another task - be it visual, manual, or cognitive - they might not always detect the alert, as their susceptibility is reduced.