1. Relationships Between Cognitive and Driving Self-awareness in Older Drivers.
- Author
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Paire-Ficout, Laurence, Lafont, Sylviane, Hay, Marion, Coquillat, Amandine, Fabrigoule, Colette, and Chavoix, Chantal
- Subjects
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EXPERIMENTAL design , *SELF-management (Psychology) , *COGNITION , *SELF-consciousness (Awareness) , *NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL tests , *AUTOMOBILE driving , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *LONGITUDINAL method , *OLD age - Abstract
Objectives Many older drivers incorrectly estimate their driving ability. The present study aimed to determine whether, and if so, to what extent unawareness of cognitive abilities affects self-awareness of driving ability. Method Two successive studies were conducted in older drivers. A cohort study investigated cognitive self-awareness and an experimental study examined driving self-awareness. In each one, self-awareness was assessed by cross-analyzing objective (respectively Trail-Making Tests A and B and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test and driving performance of on-road assessment) and subjective data (responses about everyday cognitive skills and driving ability). Older drivers were then classified as being over-, correct, or underestimators. The 3 cognitive and driving self-awareness profiles were then cross-analyzed. Results In the cohort study, 1,190 drivers aged 70 years or older were included. The results showed that 42.7% of older drivers overestimated their cognitive ability, 42.2% estimated it correctly, and 15.1% underestimated it. The experimental study included 145 participants from the cohort. The results showed that 34% of participants overestimated, 45% correctly estimated, and 21% underestimated their driving ability. There was a significant relationship between cognitive and driving self-awareness profiles (p =.02). This overlap was more marked in overestimators. Discussion Significant overlap between cognitive and driving self-awareness provides useful and new knowledge about driving in the aging population. Misestimation of cognitive ability could hamper self-awareness of driving ability, and consequently self-regulation of driving. It is now crucial to develop measures that promote self-awareness of ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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