Title: Is 'error proneness' specific to errors? Predictive validity of the cognitive failures questionnaire

Authors: Francesco Di Nocera; Fabio Ferlazzo; Francesca D'Olimpio

Addresses: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78 – 00185 Rome, Italy ' Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78 – 00185 Rome, Italy ' Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi, 43 – 81100 Caserta, Italy

Abstract: Over two decades ago, the cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ) was introduced as a tool for obtaining information concerning the frequency of everyday errors. Since then errors have been related to the construct of error proneness, which is supposed to be a steady trait in any individual. The CFQ has been adapted for populations other than English speakers and used in a great variety of experimental and applied settings. The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to further address the factorial structure of the CFQ; 2) to verify the predictive validity of the error proneness construct in a simulated driving task. Results of the first study showed that seven factors might underlie the CFQ structure: action monitoring and control, memory for names, decision, mind-wandering, over-reliance on memory, blunders, absent-mindedness. However, we show that the CFQ total score may be preferred. Furthermore, the experimental study here reported showed that the CFQ total score is a weak predictor of driving performance and only predicts the time spent out-of-path, suggesting that 'error proneness', as measured by this questionnaire, is mainly linked to constructs such as absent mindedness or distractibility rather than a dispositional tendency to make errors.

Keywords: error proneness; driving simulation; absent-mindedness; automatic processing; controlled processing; predictive validity; cognitive failures questionnaire; CFQ; error frequency; driver performance; distractibility; driving errors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2014.067843

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2014 Vol.3 No.2, pp.208 - 225

Received: 12 May 2014
Accepted: 04 Jan 2015
Published online: 18 Mar 2015 *

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