Does attention capacity moderate the effect of driver distraction in older drivers?

The effects of cognitively demanding dual-task driving condition on elderly people’s driving performance; Real driving monitoring

“…Although listening to music is a habitual behavior that may not distract drivers, it can exert influence on drivers' driving performance by triggering divided attention, information processing, and the cognitively demanding task of listening to complex contents (Just et al, 2008). A recent study reported that when elderly people drive in a driving simulator with a secondary cognitive task which requires participants to add auditory serial pairs of randomized digits, the drivers need to continuously allocate their attentional resources to both the driving and the secondary task, which leads to a decline in driving safety (Cuenen et al, 2015). Just et al (2008) suggest that listening to a dialogue and comprehending auditory sentences during the driving activity affect the driver's performance.…”

“…Additionally, the study focuses on drivers over the age 65 in a real driving condition. Most of the previous experiments were conducted using driving simulators (Boyle and Lee, 2010;Brodsky and Slor, 2013;Cuenen et al, 2015;Just et al, 2008). Simulator-based studies provide the opportunity to present drivers with a variety of stimuli in a standardized, safe, and controlled environment (Freund et al, 2002;Lee et al, 2003); however, simulators are not best suited for driving behaviors measurement (Regan et al, 2013).…”

Default‐mode network dynamics are restricted during high speed discrimination in healthy aging: Associations with neurocognitive status and simulated driving behavior

“…Differences in simulated driving performance between young and older adults have been widely documented, where impairments in the elderly are usually observed (Bélanger, Gagnon, & Stinchcombe, ; Campagne, Pebayle, & Muzet, ; Lee, Cameron, & Lee, ; Stinchcombe, Gagnon, Zhang, Montembeault, & Bedard, ; Urwyler et al, ). Other studies have focused on the relationship between simulated driving performance in the elderly and cognitive processes such as visual attention (Cuenen et al, ; Hoffman, McDowd, Atchley, & Dubinsky, ), divided attention, mental workload (Cantin, Lavallière, Simoneau, & Teasdale, ), processing speed, visuospatial performance and executive functioning (Shanmugaratnam, Kass, & Arruda, ) suggesting either deficits in these abilities or the existence of a possible underlying compensatory effect (Andrews & Westerman, ). An extension on how speed estimation or speed discrimination influence real or simulated driving hasn't been fully explored, despite it being an ability affected by aging.…”

Developing a Checklist for Cognitive Characteristics of Driving Scenarios in Dual-Task Studies: The Case of Cell Phone Use While Driving

“…The work environment or lab temperature characteristics can affect cognitive function. Past studies indicated that heat (49)(50)(51)(52) and cold (5,16,53,54) could lead to the destruction of cognitive processes in humans (55). The meta-analysis results of the heat cognitive effects also indicated a decline in the individuals' performance in hightemperature conditions (56).…”