Spatial Mental Transformation Skills Discriminate Fitness to Drive in Young and Old Adults

Abstract

Literature on driving research suggests a relationship between cognition and driving performance in older and younger drivers. There is little research on adults and driving, despite them being the largest age cohort behind the wheel. Among the cognitive domains, visuospatial abilities are expected to be highly predictive of driving skills and driving fitness. The relationship between specific spatial mental transformation skills (i.e., object and self-based ones) and driving performance has not yet been examined. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between overall cognitive functioning, self and object-based spatial mental transformation skills, and driving performance in a sample of younger and older adult drivers. Participants were comprised of one hundred younger and 83 older adult Italian drivers. Participants completed a computerized driving test assessing traffic stress resilience, visual and motor reaction time, and the ability to obtain an overview of the traffic scenario (DT, vRT, mRT, and ATAV respectively in the Shufried®-Vienna Test System–DRIVESC). The Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and the Object Perspective Taking Test (OPT) were administered in order to assess object-based and self-based spatial mental transformation skills. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA) was administered control for global cognitive functioning. The effects of education and gender were also controlled in the analysis. The results of the present study suggested that: (1) The effect of age, favoring younger participants, was found in DT, vRT, mRT, and ATAVT tests. (2) The effect of global cognitive functioning was found in DT and ATAV tests. (3) The effect of the spatial mental transformation tests was found in DT, vRT (MRT only), and ATAVT (OPT only) tests. Taken together, these results suggest the specific contribution of spatial mental transformation skills in the execution of complex behaviors connected to the fitness to drive. Prospectively, the results of the present study relating spatial mental transformation skills and driving processes may be a valuable source of knowledge for researchers dealing with the relationship between cognitive resources and navigation aids.

The Impact of Two MMPI-2-Based Models of Personality in Predicting Driving Behavior. Can Demographic Variables Be Disregarded?

“…The results of the present study showed negative effects of age on resilience of attention ( Table 1 b), reaction times ( Table 2 b and Table 3 b), and perceptual speed ( Table 4 b). These results support previous evidence of the age-associated decline in cognitive, motor, and perceptual functions being important for driving, such as eyesight (e.g., diminished visual acuity and narrowed peripheral vision), reaction speed, perceptual speed, selective attention, and muscle strength [ 5 , 81 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 ]. Moreover, these results partially replicate evidence found by Nechtelberger et al [ 77 ] in a sample of intoxicated drivers.…”

“…From a behavioral perspective, a high level of education is found to be positively associated with an increased tendency to speed and to wear safety belts [ 148 ]. In a previous study aimed to investigate the role of cognitive abilities in predicting measures of the fitness to drive [ 81 ], we found similar results on resilience of attention and perceptual speed for the effect of the overall cognitive functioning but not for education. It is likely that education accounted for the same explained variance that was predicted by cognitive functioning on the same driving prerequisites.…”

“…Finally, recent studies have reported age and gender differences in cognitive functions implied in the fitness to drive, such as memory, perceptual speed, motor reaction times, resilience of attention, executive functions, and visuospatial skills [ 77 , 80 , 81 ].…”

“…First, as observed in recent studies [ 77 ], a significant and negative effect of age was expected on measures of the fitness to drive in both models. Moreover, a gender effect was expected on measures of resilience of attention in favor of females and on motor speed in favor of males [ 81 ]. No effects of education were expected on driving measures.…”

Cognitive Efficiency and Fitness-to-Drive along the Lifespan: The Mediation Effect of Visuospatial Transformations

“…As stated before, mental rotation and perspective-taking skills are involved in the execution of everyday life spatial activities (i.e., staying oriented during walking and driving, or arranging the dishwasher, as well as in video gaming) [1,25]. Although driving activity is often mentioned among the daily activities which require both mental rotation and perspective-taking abilities, evidence of their relationships with objective driving measures is very sparse [29].…”