thrive to drive: relationships between physical fitness, executive function, and adolescent driving...
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THRIVE TO DRIVE: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PHYSICAL FITNESS, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND
ADOLESCENT DRIVING SAFETY
Daniel Cox and Ann Lambert
Complacency, thy name is collisionsIn 2007 Israel was shocked to learn they had 397 vehicular fatalities
In 2009 Israel activated a national behavioral intervention that reduced their annual fatalities by 26%
In the US in 2008 there were 350,000+ fatalities and 15+ million injuries annually solely in the 15-29 age group, and there is no national campaign
Kudos to YouthNEX and our colleagues for taking this seriously and supporting our work!
Patrick Tolan, Ph.D. Ann Lambert, Ph.D. Ron Reeves, Ph.D
Joe Allen, Ph.D.
Daniel Cox, Ph.D.
Art Weltman, Ph.D. John Sirard,Ph.D.
Premise: Novice driver collisions are due to inexperience and poor judgment
1. Primary hypothesis: Poor judgment is equivalent to under-developed executive functioning which leads to risky and dangerous driving.
2. Secondary hypothesis: Executive functioning is, in part, driven by physical fitness.
• Teens take more risks– Automobile accidents– Binge drinking– Contraceptive use– Crime
ADOLESCENTS AND RISK
WHY?
• Are teens more:– Irrational?– Prone to delusions
of invulnerability?– Ignorant?
ADOLESCENTS AND RISK
• Probably not.– Logic/reasoning abilities, risk perception, risk
salience of teens comparable to adults (Reyna & Farley 2006; Steinberg 2010).
– Psychosocial capacities of adolescents differ:• Impulse control• Emotion regulation• Delay of gratification• Resistance to peer influence
– Executive Function
SOME SCIENCE BEHIND THE PROBLEM
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION“Psychologists would rather share toothbrushes
than definitions of Executive Function.”
The ability to employ parallel processing and working memory that allows us to anticipate consequences, inhibit impulses, plan ahead, problem solve, and be creative in our interaction with the world.
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
BREAKING THAT DOWN• Controlled Processing
– Organization and coordination of sub-processes
• Prefrontal Cortex = Goal Maintenance• Anterior Cigulate Cortex = Error Monitoring
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS:
•Inhibition•Planning•Problem Solving
ADOLESCENT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
30 years
7-young adulthood
1-3 years3-5 years
0-1 years
20 40
Fro
ntal
Cor
tex
Dev
elop
men
t
DRIVING AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
• Geriatric populations– On-road– Driving simulation– See Bieliaukas, 2005
• Adolescents– Driving simulation– Mantyla et al., 2009
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, ADOLESCENT RISK-TAKING AND DRIVING
The Perfect Storm:underdeveloped frontal cortex + presence of peers
= risk/benefit analysis
EXERCISE AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION• Older Adults (Kramer & Colcombe, 2003)• Children: Best 2010, Davis et al., 2011
RESEARCH GOAL
• Investigate the role executive function plays in general risk-taking and driving-specific risky behaviors of novice drivers, as well as the role physical activity and fitness play in the maturation of EF ability.
MODEL
PhysicalActivity
PhysicalFitness
Risk/DangerousRisk/DangerousBehaviorsBehaviors
DrivingDrivingMishapsMishaps
1+
2+
3+
4+
5-
6-
7+
8+
Affinity toTake Risk
RiskyDriving
Phase 3, Longitudinaldata
DrivingEF
9-
10-
12+
11+General
EF
EXECUTIVE FUNCTION• General EF
– Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)– Operation Span (OSPAN)
• Driving-specific EF– Novel in-simulator test
• divided attention, • selective attention, • dual processing, • response inhibition,• working memory
DRIVING PERFORMANCE & MISHAPS• Tactical Driving Simulation Test (during 2nd visit)• Instructor on-road ratings• 1st six months of independent driving
– Text message once a month
RISK
• General– Youth Risk Behavior Survey – Core Alcohol and Drug Survey– Self-Reported Delinquency
• Driving-Specific– Cox Assessment of Risky
Driving Scale (CARDS)
SUMMARY OF PREDICTIONS• Physical activity and physical fitness will
positively influence General EF.• General EF will lead to Driving-Specific EF. • General EF will predict general risk-taking.• Driving-Specific EF will predict Risky Driving.• Risky driving will predict future driving mishaps
over the first six months.
These data will serve as preliminary studies for a larger, experimentally based NIH proposal.
To follow up, contact• Daniel J. Cox, [email protected]• Ann Lambert, [email protected]