1,147 research outputs found
The ‘frontal lobe’ project: A double-blind, randomized controlled study of the effectiveness of higher level driving skills training to improve frontal lobe (executive) function related driving performance in young drivers
The current study was undertaken in order to evaluate the effectiveness of higher level skills training on safe driving behaviour of 36 teenage drivers. The participants, who attended the Driver Training Research camp in Taupo (NZ) over a two week period, were 16 to 17 years old and had a valid restricted driver licence. The study focused on four main aims. Firstly, the behavioural characteristics of the sample and their attitudes to risk taking and driving were examined. Results showed that speeding was the most anticipated driving violation, and high levels of confidence were associated with a higher number of crashes and a greater propensity for risk taking. Many, often male participants, also rated their driving skills as superior to others and thought they would be less likely than others to be involved in an accident. Secondly, the relationship between driving performance and executive functioning, general ability and sustained attention was evaluated. Overall, better driving performance and more accurate self-evaluation of driving performance was related to higher levels of executive functions, in particular, working memory, and
cognitive switching. In addition, higher general ability and greater ability to sustain attention were also linked to better performance on the driving related assessments. The third focus of this study was to compare the effects of both, higher level and vehicle handling skills training on driving performance, confidence levels and
attitudes to risk. While both types of training improved direction control, speed
choice and visual search, along with number of hazards detected and actions in relation to hazards, statistically significant improvement on visual search was seen only after higher level skills training. Vehicle handling skills training significantly improved direction control and speed choice. In addition, confidence levels in their driving skills were significantly lowered and attitudes to speeding, overtaking and
close following had improved significantly in the participants after the higher level
driving skills training. The final aspect to this study was to examine the effects of the
training over the following 6 month period based on self-reported driving behaviour.
The response rate of participants however, was not sufficient to reach any meaningful conclusion on any long-term training effects. A pilot study using GPSbased data trackers to assess post-training driving behaviour revealed some promising results for future driver training evaluation studies. The overall implications of the results are discussed in relation to improving the safety of young
drivers in New Zealand
Evaluation of a sudden brake warning system: Effect on the response time of the following driver
This study used a video-based braking simulation dual task to carry out a preliminary evaluation of the effect of a sudden brake warning system (SBWS) in a leading passenger vehicle on the response time of the following driver. The primary task required the participants (N = 25, 16 females, full NZ license holders) to respond to sudden braking manoeuvres of a lead vehicle during day and night driving, wet and dry conditions and in rural and urban traffic, while concurrently performing a secondary tracking task using a computer mouse. The SBWS in the lead vehicle consisted of g-force controlled activation of the rear hazard lights (the rear indicators flashed), in addition to the standard brake lights. Overall, the results revealed that responses to the braking manoeuvres of the leading vehicles when the hazard lights were activated by the warning system were 0.34 s (19%) faster compared to the standard brake lights. The SBWS was particularly effective when the simulated braking scenario of the leading vehicle did not require an immediate and abrupt braking response. Given this, the SBWS may also be beneficial for allowing smoother deceleration, thus reducing fuel consumption. These preliminary findings justify a larger, more ecologically valid laboratory evaluation which may lead to a naturalistic study in order to test this new technology in ‘real world’ braking situations
Telemetric longitudinal measurement of young driver behaviour
New Zealand is one of the few countries that currently allows teenagers to become solo drivers at 15 ½ years of age. During their first six months of solo driving, these teenagers are 19 times more likely to crash compared to the period of supervised driving. The behaviour of these adolescent drivers represents the single largest cause of fatalities in that age group and is widely acknowledged as one of the most serious social issues facing New Zealand. This state of affairs, often referred to as ‘the young driver problem,’ with an over representation of young drivers in motor vehicle crashes, is not unique to New Zealand. In fact, a similar situation can be found inmost of the world’s developed nations
Examining the link between information processing speed and executive functioning in multiple sclerosis
Slowed information processing speed (IPS) is frequently reported in those with multiple sclerosis (MS), and at least 20% are compromised on some aspect of executive functioning also. However, any relationship between these two processes has not been examined. The Sternberg Memory Scanning Test, Processing Speed Index (WAIS-III), Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (D.KEFS), and Working Memory Index (WMS-III) were administered to 90 participants with MS. Their performance on the PSI was significantly below the normative scores but no deficits in memory scanning speed were evident. The initial response speed of the Sternberg and the PSI were more closely related to D.KEFS performance, particularly in timed tasks with a high cognitive demand (switching tasks). In contrast, memory scanning speed was related to working memory. This study reinforces the link between IPS and working memory in MS, and supports the suggestion that IPS is not a unitary construct
The effects of road commentary training on novice drivers' visual search behaviour: A preliminary investigation
One of the major challenges facing novice drivers seems to be adequately scanning, detecting, and responding to hazards which present during the course of everyday driving; a process that involves ‘reading the road’ and modifying driver behaviour accordingly. Previous studies have indicated that inexperienced drivers tend to utilise only a small proportion of the visual field when driving, and this limited visual search behaviour may play a significant role in the over-representation of young novice drivers’ involvement in crashes. This deficiency in visual search is especially evidenced through crashes occurring at intersections, or other densely populated road environments. More recently, road commentary has become of interest within a number of driver education initiatives, and several current studies have indicated that road commentary indeed improves drivers’ performance in hazard perception tasks. However, relatively little is known about commentaries influence on the underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible for enhanced situation awareness or hazard awareness, and whether such improvements generalize to a broader range of road scenarios. Using hazard perception and eye-tracking measures, we started to examine how road commentary could influence the way drivers visually accrue and process essential road information. First, our data confirmed that commentary training significantly increased the percentage of hazards identified. But additionally, preliminary eye movement data indicated that road commentary may have influenced visual search behaviour of the participants by ‘prompting’ them to allocate extra visual attention capacity to hazard rich areas, as evidenced by an increase of their fixation clusters across the visual field. This could help increase situation awareness, and convert to safer driving behaviour and reduced risk-taking
Piloting a telemetric data tracking system to assess post-training real driving performance of young novice drivers
Evaluating the effects of driver training interventions is a difficult research task. The ultimate goal of such interventions is to make the driver safer and therefore less likely to be involved in a road crash. A particular driver training intervention can only be considered to be effective if it can show a significant reduction in the number crashes for the driver, or a significant change in driver behaviour that clearly implies safer driving. Getting accurate and comprehensive crash records is difficult and to measure post training behavioural driving changes based on selfreports (e.g., log books) may not be accurate enough to be statistically meaningful
AVIAN SPECIATION IN THE PANTEPUI: THE CASE OF THE RORAIMAN ANTBIRD (PERCNOSTOLA [SCHISTOCICHLA] ‘‘LEUCOSTIGMA’’ SATURATA)
This is the published version. Copyright Central Ornithology Publication OfficeWe document the first records for Guyana of Roraiman Antbird (Percnostola [Schistocichla] “leucostigma” saturata), an endemic of the tepui highlands of southeastern Venezuela, northern Brazil and western Guyana. This form is well differentiated from nominate leucostigma (Spot-winged Antbird) of the Guianan lowlands in morphology, vocalizations, and genetics, and replaces it both altitudinally and ecologically. The two taxa are distributed parapatrically on the continuously forested northeastern slopes of the eastern tepuis, and they almost certainly come into contact, yet there is no evidence of intermediacy. We recommend that saturata be treated as a distinct species of Percnostola, and consider its' origin in the light of various models of speciation in the tepuis
Solitons and Black Holes
We explore the relationship between black holes in Jackiw-Teitelboim(JT)
dilaton gravity and solitons in sine-Gordon field theory. Our analysis expands
on the well known connection between solutions of the sine-Gordon equation and
constant curvature metrics. In particular, we show that solutions to the
dilaton field equations for a given metric in JT theory also solve the
sine-Gordon equation linearized about the corresponding soliton. Since the
dilaton generates Killing vectors of the constant curvature metric, it is
interesting that it has an analoguous interpretation in terms of symmetries of
the soliton solution. We also show that from the Bcklund
transformations relating different soliton solutions, it is possible to
construct a flat SL(2,R) connection which forms the basis for the gauge theory
formulation of JT dilaton gravity.Comment: Substantial revisions in sections 4-5, Latex file, 13 pages.
Typographical errors corrected; accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.
Determination of Horizontal and Vertical Structure of a Novel Pattern of Short Period Gravity Waves Imaged During ALOHA-93
An all‐sky CCD imager has been used to measure the properties of short period gravity waves present over the Hawaiian Islands during the ALOHA‐93 campaign. Observations of emissions from four different altitudes provided a capability to describe the vertical as well as the horizontal structure of the wave field. On several occasions during this campaign an unusual morphology wave pattern was detected that consisted of a group of small‐scale waves oriented in the same direction. These were most noticeable in the OI (557.7 nm) emission, altitude ∼96 km, and were usually observed in association with a larger scale gravity wave. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data recorded on the night of 22 October during which both types of waves were prominent. The small‐scale waves exhibited highly coherent phase structures at each emission altitude, consistent with a ducted wave motion. The spatial intensity and phase modulation of this display is indicative of interference between two waves with similar characteristics and slightly different propagation directions. The larger scale wave motion was observed to propagate perpendicular to the small‐scale waves, and showed evidence of phase progression with altitude, implying upward energy propagation. These data have been interpreted in the context of simultaneous wind measurements from an MF radar
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