ABSTRACT
Driving is an inherently multitask environment and the migration of increasingly complex technology into the automobile raises the threat of distraction. This chapter describes micro and macrocognitive contributions to drivers' failure to manage In-Vehicle Information Systems and roadway demands. A central problem in demand management is that of calibration, where calibration is the appreciation for the magnitude of demands, the capacity to address those demands, and the consequence of neglecting those demands. Much research reflects a microcognitive perspective in which distraction-related mishaps occur as a consequence of a dual-task performance decrement. Poor demand calibration undermines feedback, feedforward, and adaptive control, which contributes to distraction-related mishaps. This perspective shows how micro and macrocognition can interact through cascade effects to undermine performance in multitask environments. Distraction-related mishaps occur if the separation of the distributions diminishes or if the variance of the distributions increases.
