An empirical investigation of driver's eye-catching effect in the entrance zone of freeway tunnels: A naturalistic driving experiment.

• Different visual environments at freeway tunnel entrance zones have varying effects on driver's visual attention, cognitive workload, and subjective mental workload. • The billboard condition attracts the highest level of visual attention from drivers, while the tip slogan condition results in the highest cognitive workload. • Evaluation using the NASA-TLX scale indicates that the tip slogan condition has the greatest impact on drivers' subjective mental workload. This study aims to evaluate the impact of different visual attraction environments at the entrance zone of freeway tunnels on drivers' visual performance and subjective mental workload. Through a naturalistic driving experiment conducted on actual roads, participants experienced various visual attraction environments at the entrance zones of freeway tunnels. The selected visual environments included baseline, landscape-style architecture, tip slogan, and billboard scenarios. Objective visual performance was assessed using eye-tracking devices to collect participants' eye movement data, while subjective mental workload was evaluated through the NASA-TLX measurement reports administered after the driving experiment. The results indicate that the visual attraction environments at the entrance zone of freeway tunnels have significant impacts on drivers' visual attention level, cognitive workload, and subjective mental workload. Under the billboard condition, participants exhibited the longest first fixation duration (FFD) and paid the earliest attention to visual attraction (reflected by participants positioned their initial fixation at the visual attraction farthest from the tunnel entrance zone (DFT)). Additionally, the tip slogan condition resulted in the highest mean fixation duration (MFD), the largest percentage of total fixation duration on the visual attraction (PTFD), and the highest cognitive workload (reflected in maximum pupil diameter (PD)). Billboard at the entrance zone of freeway tunnel had the greatest effect on attracting drivers' visual attention, while tip slogan resulted in the highest cognitive workload on drivers. The results of the subjective mental workload evaluation (NASA-TLX) also indicated that tip slogan had the greatest impact on drivers' subjective mental workload. This study provides valuable insights into the potential impact of different visual attraction environments at the entrance zone of freeway tunnels on drivers' eye-catching effect. The results contribute to both theoretical knowledge and practical applications in the field of transportation safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]