Neuropsychological Markers for Safe Driving in Healthy Middle-Aged Drivers

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Neuropsychological Markers for Safe Driving in Healthy Middle-Aged Drivers Jose L. Carrion1* 1 Universidad de Sevilla, Spain Road safety is a major social concern, due to its emotional and economic impact on society. Implicit in this concern is the need to accurately assess cognitive functions associated with driving safety. Road safety studies on elderly populations drivers with neurological or psychiatric disorders and on drivers under the influence of drugs reveal that cognitive deterioration is a key factor in unsafe driving. Studies show an increased risk of impaired driving in drivers with dementia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression other neuropsychiatric disorders. ADHD drivers have difficulty controlling impulsive behavior including speeding, frustration, unsafe lane changing, and a greater likelihood of an accident following an unexpected event (Groom et al., 2015). Alcohol impairs divided attention and visual scanning, notably in peripheral vision The introduction of the point system driver’s license in several European countries could offer a valid framework for evaluating driving skills. This is the first study to use this framework to find neuropsychological markers for safe driving in healthy middle aged drivers. The integrity of a driver’s cognitive functions is a key component in driving ability (Carr, 1997; Dubinsky et al., 2000). Different cognitive skills, including executive functions, work in synchrony to design action plans and carry them out at the right moment. These skills include attention processes, working memory, processing speed, planning, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. In this study, we assessed the cognitive functional integrity of middle-aged drivers with full points, partial points or no points on their driver’s license (N=270). The purpose of this study is to find cognitive differences that could be determinants in safe driving and which help explain point loss. Neuropsychological tests were performed to assess cognitive skills. Analyses for covariance (ANCOVAS) were employed for group comparisons while adjusting for education level. The Bonferroni method was used for correcting for multiple comparisons. Overall, drivers with the full points on their license showed better scores than the other two groups. In particular, significant differences were found in reaction times on Simple and Conditioned Attention tasks (both p-values <0.001) and in number of type-III errors on the Tower of Hanoi task (p=0.026). Differences in reaction time on attention tasks could serve as neuropsychological markers for safe driving. Further analysis is conducted in order to determine the behavioral impact of impaired cognition on driving ability. Keywords: Attention, Safe driving, cognitive control, executive functions, neuroopsychological assessment Conference: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 27 Jun - 29 Jun, 2018. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Neuroergonomics Citation: Carrion JL (2019). Neuropsychological Markers for Safe Driving in Healthy Middle-Aged Drivers . Conference Abstract: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.227.00054 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 Mar 2018; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Prof. Jose L Carrion, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, leoncarrion@us.es Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jose L Carrion Google Jose L Carrion Google Scholar Jose L Carrion PubMed Jose L Carrion Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.