aging

COGNITIVE AND PERCEPTUAL FACTORS IN AGING AND DRIVING
PERFORMANCE*

Edward J. Rinalducci, Mustapha Mouloua, and Janan Smither
Department of Psychology
University of Central Florida

Final Technical Report No. VPL-03-01
Visual Performance Laboratory
Department Of Psychology
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Fl. 32816-1390

Technical Report submitted to the Florida Department of Transportation,
Tallahassee under grant number 16-21-713 to the University of Central
Florida and CATSS: Drs. Edward J. Rinalducci, Mustapha Mouloua, and
Janan Al-Awar Smither were the Principal Investigators. The views presented in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of UCF, CATSS, or FDOT. Mr. Jack Selter was the Technical
Monitor. Comments on this report may be sent to Edward J. Rinalducci,
Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, 328161780.

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Technical Summary

3

Introduction

4

Method

11

Participants

11

Tasks and Materials

13

Procedures

16

Data Collection and Analyses

17

Results and Discussion

17

General Conclusions

24

Acknowledgements

25

References

26

Appendix

32

2

Technical Summary
The report examines cognitive and perceptual factors as a function of age differences in drivers. Three major groups of participants employed in the proposed research. The

younger group range from 19 to 34 years of age, the middle-age group range from 35 to
59 years, and the older group were 60 years and above. The research for first phase of the study was carried out in the Visual Performance Laboratory in the Department of
Psychology at the University of Central Florida. It consisted of determining various perceptual and cognitive measures. In addition, tests assessing neurological status were carried out in the FASST Laboratory at the same time. The last phase or the simulation phase of the study was

References: . Albert, M. S. & Kaplan, E. (1980). Organic implications of neuropsychological deficits in the elderly Balll, K. (1997). Attentional problems and the older driver. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 11, Suppl Ball, K., Owsley, C., Sloane, M., Roenker, D., & Bruni, J. (1993). Visual attention problems as a predictor of vehicle accidents among older drivers. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 34, (11), 3110-3123. Ball, K. K., Beard, B. L., Roenker, D. L., Miller, R. L., & Griggs, D. S. (1988). Age and visual search: Expanding the useful field of view. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 5, 2210-2219. Ball, K., Roenker, D., & Bruni, J. R. (1990). Developmental changes in attention and visual search throughout adulthood Brouwer, W.H. (1993). Older drivers and attentional demands: consequences for human factors research Brouwer, W.H., Ickenroth, J., Van Wolffelaar, P.C., & Ponds, R.W. H. M. (1990). Brouwer, W.H., Waterink, W., Van Wolffelaar, P.C., & Rothengatter, J.A. (1991). Brouwer, W.H., & van Zomeren, Adriaan H. (1992). Assessment of attention. In Crawford, J Cooper, P., Tallman, K., Tuokko, H., & Beattie, B. L. (1993). Vehicle crash involvement and cognitive deficiency in older drivers Craik, F.I.M. (1977). Age differences in human memory. In J.E. Birren & K.W. Darzentas, J., McDowell, M.R.C. and Cooper, D.F. (1980) Minimum acceptable gaps and conflict involvement in a simple crossing maneuver Drachman, D. A., & Swearer, J. M. (1993). Driving and Alzheimer=s disease: The risk of crashes Derix, M. M. A. (1994). Neuropsychological differentiation of dementia syndromes Dubinsky, R. M., Williamson, R. N., Gray, C. S. & Glass, S. L. (1992). Driving in Alzheimer=s Disease Fitten, L. J. (1997). The demented driver: The doctor=s dilemma. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 11, Suppl Logsdon, R. G., Teri, L., & Larson, E. B. (1992). Driving and Alzheimer=s Disease potential? Journal of the American Geratrics Society, 44, 1198-1204. Leibowitz, H., & Appelle, S. (1969). The effect of a central task on luminance thresholds for peripherally presented stimuli Lucas-Blaustein, M. J., Filipp, L., Dungan, C., & Tune, L. (1988). Driving in patients with dementia McDowd, J.M., & Craik, F.I.M. (1988). Effects of aging and task difficulty on divided attention performance McDowd, J.M., & Birren, J.E. (1990). Aging and attentional processes. In Birren, J.E O’Neill, jD. (1996). Dementia and driving: Screening, assessment, and advise. Lancet, 348, 1114. Owsley, C. N., Stalvey, B., Wells, J., & Sloane, M. (1999). Older drivers and cataract: Driving habits and crash risk Ponds, R. W. H. M., Brouwer, W. H., & van Wolffelaar, P. C. (1988). Age differences in divided attention in a simulated driving task