PSY 409A Driving Psychology, September 10, 2006

Neuropsychology and the Effects of Stessors in Driving

By Michael Lee

Peter Rothe, Editor (2002). Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press). pp.10-34.

Instructions for this assignment can be found here:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral1.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

I. Personal Sub-Systems

A. Health Sub-Systems

1. The complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of illness.

2. Health is not just about the body but also encompasses social and political concerns.

B. Social Sub-Systems

1. The social roadway system is actually society itself, a reflection of cultures and mores.

2. All areas of people, organizations, and institutions affect roadways.

C. Cultural Sub-Systems

1. While we are on the road, we presume similar backgrounds, experiences, needs, values, and patterns of behaviors.

2. Driving in itself can bring out different thought processes, values, and behaviors despite one’s culture and therefore drivers have their own driving culture.

II. Neuro-Behavioral Variables and Traffic Safety

1. Clinical neuropsychology is an applied science concerned with the behavioral expression of brain dysfunction.

2. Covers complex aspects of cognition and behaviors.

A. Neuropsychology and Screening Systems

1. When people’s mobility is limited, especially in the elderly, their health may decline, leading to increased costs for institutional care.

2. Assessment of visual attention processing is the best predictor of driving performance in mildly DAT (Dementia of the Alzheimer Type) or otherwise dementia drivers.

B. An Improved Screening System

1. Sensation seeking type = the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences.

2. Higher disposition to sensation-seeking have different levels of norepinephrine and dopamine than do individuals with low disposition to sensation-seeking.

3. Examination of visual perception is better than mental status batteries after an acute disease because right cerebral lesions give rise to deficits in visual spatial tasks while left cerebral lesions lead to difficulty in more complex spatial tasks.

4. “Looking without seeing” tends to be a problem for people after an acute disease.

C. Supporting Fallible Human Behavior

1. Sleep apnea and narcolepsy, and sleep loss are two factors that are definitively associated with increased risk of drowsy driving.

2. Sleep loss is by fat the primary cause of drowsy driving.

3. Left handed are two times as likely to have a car crash than right handed drivers.

III. Dealing with Stress Aggression and Pressure in the Vehicle

A. Fifteen aspects of driving act as stressors

1. Immobility

2. Constriction

3. Regulation

4. Lack of Control

5. Being put in Danger

6. Territoriality

7. Diversity

8. Multi-Tasking

9. Denying our Mistakes

10. Cynicism

11. Loss of Objectivity

12. Venting

13. Unpredictability

14. Ambiguity

15. Lack of Emotional Intelligence

B. Trigger theory of anger suggests that aggressors feel they are always innocent and are provoked when acting with anger,

C. Road Rage and Aggressive Driving

1. A dozen US states have passed aggressive driving bills that would change mere citations punishments to harsher felonies and misdemeanors for aggressive driving.

2. People tend to have an inflated self-image of their driving ability.

D. From Traffic Safety to Driving Psychology

1. Primary affective driving norms for this generation include valuing territorial, dominance, and competition as a desirable driving style condoning intolerance of diversity.

2. Primary cognitive driving norms include inaccurate risk assessment, biased and self-serving explanations of driving incidents, lack of emotional intelligence as a driver, and low or underdeveloped level of moral involvement.

3. Primary sensorimotor driving norms include automatic habits, errors of perception, and lapses in one’s attention ot performance due to fatigue, sleepiness, drugs, boredom, inadequate training or preparation.

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