Event Abstract Back to Event Examining the relationship between impulsivity and the BOLD response in risky and safe drivers. Georgia O'Callaghan1* 1 Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Theory has linked certain stages of brain development to the increase in impulsive and risk-taking behaviours commonly associated with adolescence and young adulthood. Previous research has also demonstrated a link between impulsivity and risky driving, with young ‘risky’ drivers displaying higher psychometric and cognitive impulsivity than young ‘safe’ drivers. However, these studies do not explain why some individuals have a greater propensity towards driving risk, nor do they address why impulsivity and risky driving can persist into later adulthood in some individuals, but not in others. This project utilised fMRI to examine the relationship between cognitive impulsivity, risky driving behaviours and the BOLD response in older adults. The current study compared the impulsivity of 20 ‘risky’ (penalty points and/or collision culpable) and 20 ‘safe’ older male drivers (N = 40, age range = 29-56, M = 37.59, SD = 7.58). Participants completed psychometric measures of impulsivity and driving behaviour prior to scanning. Scanning lasted one hour, during which time participants completed three tasks (the Iowa Gambling Task, Monetary Incentive Delay task and the Go/No Go task), each designed to assess different facets of cognitive impulsivity. Analyses of the data are on going. Detectable differences in the impulsivity of the groups may be explained by differences in the BOLD response during the cognitive tasks. This may give insight into the origin of risky driving behaviours. The study would like to acknowledge the Road Safety Authority for their support in funding the project. Acknowledgements Road Safety Authority Keywords: fMRI, impulsivity, risk-taking, Driver Behavior, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), monetary incentive delay task, Go No Go Task Conference: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 , Dublin, Ireland, 20 Sep - 20 Sep, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Early Career Neuroscience Citation: O'Callaghan G (2014). Examining the relationship between impulsivity and the BOLD response in risky and safe drivers.. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2014.87.00016 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: 11 Sep 2014; Published Online: 12 Sep 2014. * Correspondence: Miss. Georgia O'Callaghan, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, ocallag@tcd.ie 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 Georgia O'Callaghan Google Georgia O'Callaghan Google Scholar Georgia O'Callaghan PubMed Georgia O'Callaghan 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.