Effects of the length of a rest break and food intake on subsidiary reaction-time performance in an 8-hour driving task

Abstract

Attempted to counteract performance decrement in prolonged car driving. Each of 8 university students drove for 8 hrs on 4 occasions, with a rest break after 4 hrs. Two rest break factors were considered: food (food/no food) and duration of the break (15 and 60 min). During driving, a subsidiary reaction-time (RT) task (switch pressing in response to an auditory stimulus) was used as an indirect measure of driving performance. The results show that food had a positive effect on RT performance, but there was no difference in performance between a rest break of 15 and 60 min. Food resulted in less deterioration in RT performance as a function of time on task, but there was no recovery in RT performance immediately after the rest break. (21 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)