Recent research has shown that the useful visual field deteriorates in simulated car driving when the latter can induce a decrease in the level of activation. The first aim of this study was to verify if the same phenomenon occurs when driving is performed in a simulated road traffic situation. The second aim was to discover if this field also deteriorates as a function of the driver's age and of the vehicle's speed. Nine young drivers (from 22 to 34 years) and nine older drivers (from 46 to 59 years) followed a vehicle in road traffic during two two-hour sessions. The car-following task involved driving at 90 km.h(-1) (speed limit on road in France) in one session and at 130 km.h(-1) (speed limit on motorway in France) in the other session. While following the vehicle, the driver had to detect the changes in colour of a luminous signal located in the central part of his/her visual field and a visual signal that appeared at different eccentricities on the rear lights of the vehicles in the traffic. The analysis of the data indicates that the useful visual field deteriorates with the prolongation of the monotonous simulated driving task, with the driver's age and with the vehicle's speed. The results are discussed in terms of general interference and tunnel vision.

Whether sleep loss is associated with risk-taking behavior or not could depend on the origin of sleep loss and the underlying personality traits.

a b s t r a c tIntroduction. -Research consistently showed that stress and organizational change are closely related.Objective. -This study was conducted to identify the psychosocial job characteristics that are responsible for psychological stress in a context of organizational change.Method. -An expanded 30-item version of the Job Content Questionnaire was used to measure psychological demands, decision latitude, supervisor support, coworker support, and organizational difficulties. Online survey responses from 973 employees from the university of Strasbourg were analyzed. Results. -Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated a poor fit of the five-factor model based on 30 items but an acceptable to good fit of a reduced five-factor model based on 26 items. Results from a stepwise regression showed that the organizational difficulties dimension was the second most important predictor of psychological stress. Conclusion. -The implications of these findings for further work on health outcomes of organizational changes closed this study.

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Inclination toward eveningness is often associated with risky behavior. But the existing studies are scarce, inconsistent and usually limited to self-reported measures. We sought to investigate in young adults whether morningness-eveningness is associated with risky behavior in dangerous driving situations, with self-reported drunk driving and with alcohol consumption. Results show that, indeed, inclination toward eveningness is associated with these risky behaviors. We also demonstrate a link between morningness-eveningness and sensation seeking. Therefore, young adults with a tendency toward eveningness might be more at risk to face negative consequences of alcohol abuse or to be involved in a road accident.

People frequently express comparative optimism ; that is, they believe they are less likely than average to experience negative events. The aim of the present study is, first, to observe whether people of more than 65 years are still optimists when they evaluate driving-related risks; and second, to test the assumption that older drivers show less optimism when they compare themselves with average-age drivers than when they compare themselves with same-age drivers. Our results reveal that drivers of more than 65 years do, indeed, express comparative optimism, but, contrary to our expectation, only in a limited number of cases does the age of the comparison target appear to have an effect. These results are particularly discussed in terms of self-image enhancement.

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Objective: Our study sought to explore, by using response time measures, the cognitive effort associated with comparative optimism expression (CO) and its modulation. More precisely, our aim was to decide between two opposite options: (1) expressing CO as a self-serving bias (presenting oneself as better than others) will require less cognitive effort than restraining CO; and (2) modulating CO depending on social context will be effortless, thus for example restraining CO as a normative self-presentational answer (for presenting oneself modestly) will require less cognitive effort than expressing CO. Methods: Participants answered a CO questionnaire in two social contexts in which CO is socially valued (professional domain) or not valued (friendship domain). They had to answer either spontaneously or in order to convey a favourable or an unfavourable impression. Answers and times needed to respond were recorded. Results: The present data revealed that participants were slower when restraining CO to convey a negative image to an employer or to depict a modest self to a friend. Conversely, they were faster when expressing CO to convey a favourable image to a recruiter or a negative one to a friend. In the spontaneous condition, a same level of CO was expressed, but response times were lengthened in the friendship domain. Conclusion: Overall, these results suggest that in comparing one's own risk with that of an average other, restraining CO according to the socially valued self-presentational standard of modesty corresponds to a strenuous answer. Consequently, expressing CO might represent a more overlearned, automatised self-presentational answer.