title: Driving without awareness: The effects of practice and automaticity on attention and driving

authors: Charlton, Samuel G.

subjects: driving simulator

abstract: This research examined the development of proceduralised “driving without awareness” in a driving simulator by paying participants to drive a simulated road regularly over 12 weeks of testing. This longitudinal research paradigm is a significant departure from previous studies which have examined drivers in a conscious attentional mode using short experimental sessions or cross-sectional designs comparing expert and novice performance. During each session, participants took two “trips” on the simulated road; sometimes travelling on a “to and from” journey on one half of the road, sometimes traversing the entire road in one direction. A range of measures, including driving performance, vehicle detection, perceptual speed regulation, and hazard reactions were collected. The results showed the development of driving patterns and changes in object detection performance indicative of proceduralised driving. Speed and lane position variability quickly decreased with practice, as did participants’ subjective experiences of driving difficulty. Performance on an embedded detection task appeared to become a proceduralised part of the driving task, becoming highly efficient in later stages of the experiment. The changes in attentional focus and driving performance over time provide new light on previous research findings and allow us to critically re-examine several established models of driver behaviour.

text: Driving without awareness: The effects of practice and automaticity on attention and driving This research examined the development of proceduralised “driving without awareness” in a driving simulator by paying participants to drive a simulated road regularly over 12 weeks of testing. This longitudinal research paradigm is a significant departure from previous studies which have examined drivers in a conscious attentional mode using short experimental sessions or cross-sectional designs comparing expert and novice performance. During each session, participants took two “trips” on the simulated road; sometimes travelling on a “to and from” journey on one half of the road, sometimes traversing the entire road in one direction. A range of measures, including driving performance, vehicle detection, perceptual speed regulation, and hazard reactions were collected. The results showed the development of driving patterns and changes in object detection performance indicative of proceduralised driving. Speed and lane position variability quickly decreased with practice, as did participants’ subjective experiences of driving difficulty. Performance on an embedded detection task appeared to become a proceduralised part of the driving task, becoming highly efficient in later stages of the experiment. The changes in attentional focus and driving performance over time provide new light on previous research findings and allow us to critically re-examine several established models of driver behaviour.

year: 2011

title: An assessment of the benefits of cleaner streams: A New Zealand case study

authors: Marsh, Dan

subjects: non-market valuation

abstract: Water pollution is now considered to be one of the most important environmental issues facing New Zealand. Water quality in rivers, lakes and streams is generally falling alongside the increase in farming intensity, especially in dairying. Currently, technical and regulatory mechanisms to reduce non-point source pollution from agriculture are the focus of an intensive effort involving industry, researchers, regulators and other stakeholders.
The research described in this non-technical paper aims to complement existing knowledge by developing appropriate methodology for valuing water quality improvements in New Zealand. It is envisaged that this type of information will assist the policy process by allowing decision makers to consider both the costs and the benefits of different levels of water quality improvements.
This research is based on a case study of the Karapiro catchment in the North Island of New Zealand. It uses choice analysis to assess people’s preferences and willingness to pay for different levels of water quality improvement in catchment streams. Choice analysis methods ask respondents to choose between one group of environmental services or characteristics, at a given price or cost to the individual, and another group of environmental characteristics at a different price or cost. Each respondent is usually asked to repeat this exercise several times.
The results from this study indicate that respondents would be willing to pay for cleaner water for swimming, for better ecological health (with eels, bullies and smelt present), for the presence of trout and for better clarity such that ‘you can usually see the bottom’. Respondent preferences were strongest for water suitable for swimming, followed by ecological health, presence of trout and clarity.

text: An assessment of the benefits of cleaner streams: A New Zealand case study Water pollution is now considered to be one of the most important environmental issues facing New Zealand. Water quality in rivers, lakes and streams is generally falling alongside the increase in farming intensity, especially in dairying. Currently, technical and regulatory mechanisms to reduce non-point source pollution from agriculture are the focus of an intensive effort involving industry, researchers, regulators and other stakeholders.
The research described in this non-technical paper aims to complement existing knowledge by developing appropriate methodology for valuing water quality improvements in New Zealand. It is envisaged that this type of information will assist the policy process by allowing decision makers to consider both the costs and the benefits of different levels of water quality improvements.
This research is based on a case study of the Karapiro catchment in the North Island of New Zealand. It uses choice analysis to assess people’s preferences and willingness to pay for different levels of water quality improvement in catchment streams. Choice analysis methods ask respondents to choose between one group of environmental services or characteristics, at a given price or cost to the individual, and another group of environmental characteristics at a different price or cost. Each respondent is usually asked to repeat this exercise several times.
The results from this study indicate that respondents would be willing to pay for cleaner water for swimming, for better ecological health (with eels, bullies and smelt present), for the presence of trout and for better clarity such that ‘you can usually see the bottom’. Respondent preferences were strongest for water suitable for swimming, followed by ecological health, presence of trout and clarity.

year: 2010-10

title: The anthropologist as tribal advocate

authors: Hopa, Ngapare K

subjects: economic conditions

abstract: My colleague has outlined some of the major issues facing New Zealand and its indigenous Polynesians - the Maaori - who not so long ago were ranked among the most documented in the world and the country as THE laboratory of race relations.
The present disadvantaged and dependent status of Maaori people show how illusory that notion is and, for New Zealand anthropologists, the challenge it presents in helping Maaori to attain socio-economic sovereignty within the 'partnership' promised by the Treaty of Waitangi.
In the late 60s and since, a few 'radical' mostly 'native' anthropologists can be said to have risen to the challenge that Gough (1968) and others, laid down, but it cannot be said, even now, that the profession as a whole in New Zealand, has been responsive.
Perhaps it is still committed to the myth of scientific objectivity, or, after regarding themselves as champions of a powerless and marginal people, has not recovered from the accusation of impotency during the social ferment of the 70s and since. To be fair, there were a few individuals who were allied with the protest movement but whose contributions were not acknowledged. They rode out the storm however and have continued to contribute significantly to the Maaori cause.

text: The anthropologist as tribal advocate My colleague has outlined some of the major issues facing New Zealand and its indigenous Polynesians - the Maaori - who not so long ago were ranked among the most documented in the world and the country as THE laboratory of race relations.
The present disadvantaged and dependent status of Maaori people show how illusory that notion is and, for New Zealand anthropologists, the challenge it presents in helping Maaori to attain socio-economic sovereignty within the 'partnership' promised by the Treaty of Waitangi.
In the late 60s and since, a few 'radical' mostly 'native' anthropologists can be said to have risen to the challenge that Gough (1968) and others, laid down, but it cannot be said, even now, that the profession as a whole in New Zealand, has been responsive.
Perhaps it is still committed to the myth of scientific objectivity, or, after regarding themselves as champions of a powerless and marginal people, has not recovered from the accusation of impotency during the social ferment of the 70s and since. To be fair, there were a few individuals who were allied with the protest movement but whose contributions were not acknowledged. They rode out the storm however and have continued to contribute significantly to the Maaori cause.

year: 1988