Matching Traffic Safety Strategies to Youth Characteristics: A Literature Review of Cognitive Development

Abstract

In an effort to reduce the high crash rate and resulting injuries of young drivers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sponsored research to assess the factors responsible for this heightened crash risk and to determine the implications for traffic safety programs. As part of this research, this review of research literature was conducted to determine what is known about cognitive development and information processing capabilities of youth. The goal of the project was to ascertain how traffic safety programs should be structured to match these cognitive characteristics. The review is divided into 12 sections. This literature review focuses primarily on cognitive development from about 10 to 24 years of age. The first section is about memory; that is, the processes that allow a person to retain knowledge over time. The second section, attention, discusses the factors related to the development of how people focus cognitive resources on perceptual or mental tasks, including selective, divided, and sustained attention. The third section, learning, discusses the processes by which people acquire information. The fourth section, reasoning, discusses types of reasoning and the problems young people have with this type of thinking. The fifth section, motivation, examines the factors that initiate and influence the intensity of behaviors. The sixth section, is a discussion of the development of risk perception and factors that contribute to the misperception of risk. The seventh section discusses the development of problem solving and decision making in a general way. While influenced by all other cognitive factors and their age-related limitations, general deficits of problem solving and decision making ability are discussed. The eight section, social cognition, covers those topics in the development of social cognition that are likely to have an effect on driving: attribution theory and social schemata/scripts. The ninth section, attitude formation and change, discusses several factors related to attitudes and persuasion. The tenth section examines briefly the development of verbal ability, that is, all use of language. Because many traffic safety messages and programs deal with moral issues in driving, the AcknowledgmentsThis project was sponsored by the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Several individuals provided valuable insight and feedback on this literature review. A group of talented people served as subject-matter experts. This group of experts suggested literature review topics and studies, read and commented on several versions of this manuscript, and participated in a 1-day meeting to discuss the issues involved with cognitive development and traffic safety messages and programs for youth. We thank them for their generous and worthwhile efforts. The people in this group were: Allen Bard, Douglas Bierness, Jacquelynne Eccles, John Hagen, Brian Jonah, Patrick O'Malley, John Palmer, David Rosen, J. Frank Yates, and Marc Z...

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