Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment

Age-related changes and deterioration of cognitive skills affect older citizens’ attendance of everyday activities and considerably affect their independence and quality of life. Older people keep on driving for a long time and often even longer after deterioration occurs. Executive functioning is u...

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Main Authors: Katerina Touliou, Maria Panou, Nikolaos Maglaveras, Evangelos Bekiaris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2019-06-01
Series:International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043018301229
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author Katerina Touliou
Maria Panou
Nikolaos Maglaveras
Evangelos Bekiaris
author_facet Katerina Touliou
Maria Panou
Nikolaos Maglaveras
Evangelos Bekiaris
author_sort Katerina Touliou
collection DOAJ
description Age-related changes and deterioration of cognitive skills affect older citizens’ attendance of everyday activities and considerably affect their independence and quality of life. Older people keep on driving for a long time and often even longer after deterioration occurs. Executive functioning is usually affected early in Alzheimer’s disease leading to the possibility that executive control might be affected before a probable diagnosis is possible. This study aimed to explore changes in executive control in drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) by using an existing fitness-to-drive assessment for older drivers taking also in consideration their current emotional and physiological functioning. Statistically significant difference was found in mean reaction time (msec) between control and MCI participants (F(1, 99) = 4.514, p = .036) in correct colour response for letters (mean difference: 101 msec). As such, early cognitive issues seem to relate more with phonological rather than numerical information that sometimes have higher demand in working memory and visual attention. This result implies that higher demanding driving tasks have an increased possibility to be affected even at early stages of cognitive impairment leading to increased proneness to accidents in complex driving scenarios (e.g. non-signalled intersections), when no effect on existing driving skills is still apparent. Keywords: Executive control, Older drivers, Fitness-to-drive, Cognitive impairment, Road safety
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spelling doaj.art-a16ad0a568d24971aa9e84c6c3af03a82023-09-02T19:41:01ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology2046-04302019-06-0182129135Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairmentKaterina Touliou0Maria Panou1Nikolaos Maglaveras2Evangelos Bekiaris3Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), 6th km Charilaou-Thermis, Thessaloniki 57001, Greece; Corresponding author. Fax: +30 2310 498269.Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), 6th km Charilaou-Thermis, Thessaloniki 57001, GreeceLab of Medical Informatics Health Sciences Faculty, AUTh, 54124, Thessaloniki, GreeceCentre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), 6th km Charilaou-Thermis, Thessaloniki 57001, GreeceAge-related changes and deterioration of cognitive skills affect older citizens’ attendance of everyday activities and considerably affect their independence and quality of life. Older people keep on driving for a long time and often even longer after deterioration occurs. Executive functioning is usually affected early in Alzheimer’s disease leading to the possibility that executive control might be affected before a probable diagnosis is possible. This study aimed to explore changes in executive control in drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) by using an existing fitness-to-drive assessment for older drivers taking also in consideration their current emotional and physiological functioning. Statistically significant difference was found in mean reaction time (msec) between control and MCI participants (F(1, 99) = 4.514, p = .036) in correct colour response for letters (mean difference: 101 msec). As such, early cognitive issues seem to relate more with phonological rather than numerical information that sometimes have higher demand in working memory and visual attention. This result implies that higher demanding driving tasks have an increased possibility to be affected even at early stages of cognitive impairment leading to increased proneness to accidents in complex driving scenarios (e.g. non-signalled intersections), when no effect on existing driving skills is still apparent. Keywords: Executive control, Older drivers, Fitness-to-drive, Cognitive impairment, Road safetyhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043018301229
spellingShingle Katerina Touliou
Maria Panou
Nikolaos Maglaveras
Evangelos Bekiaris
Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology
title Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
title_full Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
title_fullStr Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
title_full_unstemmed Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
title_short Executive, emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
title_sort executive emotional and physiological functioning in older drivers with mild cognitive impairment
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043018301229
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