Executive Attention as a Predictor of Distracted Driving Performance

Author(s):  
Jennifer F. Louie ◽  
Mustapha Mouloua

The present study empirically examines the role of executive attention as a predictor of distracted driving performance. As ADHD is an attention-related disorder, we hypothesized that ADHD individuals would show poorer executive attention compared to individuals from a community sample. Second, we predicted that individuals with poorer executive attention would show riskier driving as measured by a self-report questionnaire and simulated driving trials. One-hundred thirteen individuals with and without ADHD completed an executive attention task, a driving behavior questionnaire, and three (pre-distracted, distracted, and post-distracted) simulated driving routes. Results showed that executive attention is associated with braking response times during distracted driving trials. There was also evidence for carryover effects of distraction, with participants showing slower braking response times even after the distracting task was discontinued. Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between ADHD and executive attention.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Gaspar ◽  
Mark B. Neider ◽  
Arthur F. Kramer

Declines in executive function and dual-task performance have been related to falls in older adults, and recent research suggests that older adults at risk for falls also show impairments on real-world tasks, such as crossing a street. The present study examined whether falls risk was associated with driving performance in a high-fidelity simulator. Participants were classified as high or low falls risk using the Physiological Profile Assessment and completed a number of challenging simulated driving assessments in which they responded quickly to unexpected events. High falls risk drivers had slower response times (~2.1 seconds) to unexpected events compared to low falls risk drivers (~1.7 seconds). Furthermore, when asked to perform a concurrent cognitive task while driving, high falls risk drivers showed greater costs to secondary task performance than did low falls risk drivers, and low falls risk older adults also outperformed high falls risk older adults on a computer-based measure of dual-task performance. Our results suggest that attentional differences between high and low falls risk older adults extend to simulated driving performance.


2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 874-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Kass ◽  
Kristen E. Beede ◽  
Stephen J. Vodanovich

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Marilyn Schlitz ◽  
Arnaud Delorme

Background: Psi research is a controversial area of science that examines telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis (mind over matter). Central to the debate over the existence of psi is of whether independent investigators can replicate reportedly successful psi experiments. One important variable involves the beliefs of experimenters and participants. A preregistered experiment is presented that sought to replicate and extend previously published parapsychology experiments suggestive of precognition by examining implicit beliefs. Methods: On each trial of the standard (non-psi) priming task, a pleasant or unpleasant word (the "prime") is briefly shown on computer screen, followed immediately by a pleasant or unpleasant picture. Trials on which the image and the priming word have different valences are termed “Incongruent”; trials on which the picture and the priming word share a common valence are termed “Congruent”. Participants in such experiments typically respond more slowly on Incongruent trials than on Congruent trials. In this "time-reversed" psi version of the experiment, the presumed cause-effect sequence is reversed so that the prime is not flashed until after the participant has already recorded his or her judgment. The experimental hypothesis remains the same: response times will be longer on trials with Incongruent prime/picture pairs than on trials with Congruent prime/picture pairs. Additionally, the study assesses expectations of success on the psi task of 32 experimenters—each testing 12 participants—using self-report questionnaires and the Implicit Association Task (IAT). Results: A significant correlation was found between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) effect and the participants’ reported beliefs in psi, with the effect in the direction opposite to the hypothesized correlation. Conclusions: This study offers an innovative approach to the role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study and speaks to the challenges of replication in controversial science.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. S288
Author(s):  
P. Ossola ◽  
C. De Panfilis ◽  
K.B. Meehan ◽  
N.M. Cain ◽  
A. Soliani ◽  
...  

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Marilyn Schlitz ◽  
Arnaud Delorme

Background: Psi research is a controversial area of science that examines telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis (mind over matter). Central to the debate over the existence of psi is of whether independent investigators can replicate reportedly successful psi experiments. One important variable involves the beliefs of experimenters and participants. A preregistered experiment is presented that sought to replicate and extend previously published parapsychology experiments suggestive of precognition by examining implicit beliefs. Methods: On each trial of the standard (non-psi) priming task, a pleasant or unpleasant word (the "prime") is briefly shown on computer screen, followed immediately by a pleasant or unpleasant picture. Trials on which the image and the priming word have different valences are termed “Incongruent”; trials on which the picture and the priming word share a common valence are termed “Congruent”. Participants in such experiments typically respond more slowly on Incongruent trials than on Congruent trials. In this "time-reversed" psi version of the experiment, the presumed cause-effect sequence is reversed so that the prime is not flashed until after the participant has already recorded his or her judgment. The experimental hypothesis remains the same: response times will be longer on trials with Incongruent prime/picture pairs than on trials with Congruent prime/picture pairs. Additionally, the study assesses expectations of success on the psi task of 32 experimenters—each testing 12 participants—using self-report questionnaires and the Implicit Association Task (IAT). Results: A significant correlation was found between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) effect and the participants’ reported beliefs in psi, with the effect in the direction opposite to the hypothesized correlation. Conclusions: This study offers an innovative approach to the role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study and speaks to the challenges of replication in controversial science.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 478-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele L. Oliver ◽  
Joel T. Nigg ◽  
Nicholas D. Cassavaugh ◽  
Richard W. Backs

Objective: The present study examined the role of negative emotions on driving performance in relation to ADHD, by comparing young adults scoring high on measures of ADHD ( n = 20) with a control group ( n = 22). Method: The authors used cardiorespiratory physiological measures, simulated driving behavior, and self-report to examine how participants with high and low ADHD symptoms responded to frustration and to determine how frustration affected simulated driving performance. Results: Groups did not differ in operational driving skills, but participants with high ADHD symptoms reported more frustration and exhibited more impairment at the tactical level of driving performance than the controls. There was significant suppression of respiratory sinus arrhythmia from resting baseline during tasks, but it did not differ between groups during driving. Conclusion: This article proposes that remedial driver training for ADHD populations should focus more on the control of negative emotions rather than on attention or fundamental driving skills. (J. of Att. Dis. 2012; 16(6) 478-490)


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney R. Ringwald ◽  
Aidan G.C. Wright

Empathy theoretically serves an affiliative interpersonal function by satisfying motives for intimacy and union with others. Accordingly, empathy is expected to vary depending on the situation. Inconsistent empirical support for empathy’s affiliative role may be due to methodology focused on individual differences in empathy or differences between controlled experimental conditions, which fail to capture its dynamic and interpersonal nature. To address these shortcomings, we used ecological momentary assessment to establish typical patterns of empathy across everyday interactions. Associations among empathy, affect, and interpersonal behavior of self and interaction partner were examined in a student sample (N=330), then replicated in a pre-registered community sample (N=279). Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to distinguish individual differences in empathy from interaction-level effects. Results show people are more empathetic during positively-valanced interactions with others perceived as warm and when expressing warmth. By confirming the typically affiliative role of empathy, existing research to the contrary can be best understood as exceptions to the norm.


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