Older adults with mild cognitive impairments show less driving errors after a multiple sessions simulator training program but do not exhibit long term retention

The driving performance of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is suboptimal when compared to healthy older adults. It is expected that the driving will worsen with the progression of the cognitive decline and thus, whether or not these individuals should continue to drive is a matter of debate. The aim of the study was to provide support to the claim that individuals with MCI can benefit from a training program and improve their overall driving performance in a driving simulator. Fifteen older drivers with MCI participated in five training sessions in a simulator (over a 21-day period) and in a 6-month recall session. During training, they received automated auditory feedback on their performance when an error was noted about various maneuvers known to be suboptimal in MCI individuals (for instance, weaving, omitting to indicate a lane change, to verify a blind spot, or to engage in a visual search before crossing an intersection). The number of errors was compiled for eight different maneuvers for all sessions. For the initial five sessions, a gradual and significant decrease in the number of errors was observed, indicating learning and safer driving. The level of performance, however, was not maintained at the 6-month recall session. Nevertheless, the initial learning observed opens up possibilities to undertake more regular interventions to maintain driving skills and safe driving in MCI individuals

Effect of terminal accuracy requirements on temporal gaze-hand coordination during fast discrete and reciprocal pointings

Background\ud \ud Rapid discrete goal-directed movements are characterized by a well known coordination pattern between the gaze and the hand displacements. The gaze always starts prior to the hand movement and reaches the target before hand velocity peak. Surprisingly, the effect of the target size on the temporal gaze-hand coordination has not been directly investigated. Moreover, goal-directed movements are often produced in a reciprocal rather than in a discrete manner. The objectives of this work were to assess the effect of the target size on temporal gaze-hand coordination during fast 1) discrete and 2) reciprocal pointings.\ud \ud Methods\ud \ud Subjects performed fast discrete (experiment 1) and reciprocal (experiment 2) pointings with an amplitude of 50 cm and four target diameters (7.6, 3.8, 1.9 and 0.95 cm) leading to indexes of difficulty (ID = log2[2A/D]) of 3.7, 4.7, 5.7 and 6.7 bits. Gaze and hand displacements were synchronously recorded. Temporal gaze-hand coordination parameters were compared between experiments (discrete and reciprocal pointings) and IDs using analyses of variance (ANOVAs).\ud \ud Results\ud \ud Data showed that the magnitude of the gaze-hand lead pattern was much higher for discrete than for reciprocal pointings. Moreover, while it was constant for discrete pointings, it decreased systematically with an increasing ID for reciprocal pointings because of the longer duration of gaze anchoring on target.\ud \ud Conclusion \ud \ud Overall, the temporal gaze-hand coordination analysis revealed that even for high IDs, fast reciprocal pointings could not be considered as a concatenation of discrete units. Moreover, our data clearly illustrate the smooth adaptation of temporal gaze-hand coordination to terminal accuracy requirements during fast reciprocal pointings. It will be interesting for further researches to investigate if the methodology used in the experiment 2 allows assessing the effect of sensori-motor deficits on gaze-hand coordination

Effets des contraintes de précision et de la nature d'un pointage sur la coordination entre la tête et la main

Les mouvements de pointage exécutés simultanément à un mouvement de la tête requièrent une coordination temporelle entre ces deux effecteurs. Ce présent travail propose d’étudier cette coordination lors de pointages discrets et réciproques nécessitant divers niveaux de précision (ID). L’étude portait sur la cinématique des deux segments (c.-à-d., main et tête) et la coordination entre ceux-ci. Les résultats montrent une adaptation des mouvements de la tête en fonction des contraintes de précision (ID) lors des pointages réciproques contrairement à la condition discrète où aucun effet n’était présent. Comme les mouvements de la main suivaient la loi de Fitts lors des deux types de pointages, le patron de coordination utilisé est adapté aux contraintes de précision et à la nature de la tâche à produire. Ces résultats suggèrent que les observations obtenues lors de pointages discrets ne devraient pas être transférées de facto aux mouvements réciproques.Visually corrected movements involving head and hand movements require a temporal coordination between both effectors. The present work observes this coordination during discrete and reciprocal pointings with various accuracy requirements (ID). The kinematics of the two segments and the coordination between them was examined. Results show a modification of head movements in function of the accuracy requirements (ID) during reciprocal pointings which was not the case during discrete pointings. Since hand movements followed Fitts’ law during both types of pointings, the coordination pattern adapted to both the accuracy constraints and the nature of the executed movement. These results suggest observations made during discrete pointings should not be transferred de facto to reciprocal movements

Hand–head coordination changes from discrete to reciprocal hand movements for various difficulty settings

International audienc

Training driving ability in a traumatic brain-injured individual using a driving simulator: a case report

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes functional deficits that may significantly interfere with numerous activities of daily living such as driving. We report the case of a 20-year-old woman having lost her driver’s license after sustaining a moderate TBI. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an in-simulator training program with automated feedback on driving performance in a TBI individual. Methods: The participant underwent an initial and a final in-simulator driving assessment and 11 in-simulator training sessions with driving-specific automated feedbacks. Driving performance (simulation duration, speed regulation and lateral positioning) was measured in the driving simulator. Results: Speeding duration decreased during training sessions from 1.50 ± 0.80 min (4.16 ± 2.22%) to 0.45 ± 0.15 min (0.44 ± 0.42%) but returned to initial duration after removal of feedbacks for the final assessment. Proper lateral positioning improved with training and was maintained at the final assessment. Time spent in an incorrect lateral position decreased from 18.85 min (53.61%) in the initial assessment to 1.51 min (4.64%) on the final assessment. Conclusion: Driving simulators represent an interesting therapeutic avenue. Considerable research efforts are needed to confirm the effectiveness of this method for driving rehabilitation of individuals who have sustained a TBI

Étude naturalistique de la négociation des intersections et du respect des limites de vitesse chez les conducteurs âgés de 65 ans et plus

International audienceSeveral studies suggest that normal ageing could affect the driving behavior, particularly when negotiating intersections. The purpose of the current naturalistic study was to document the behavior of drivers aged 65 and over at stop‐controlled intersections and describe the way they deal with speed limits. Twenty participants were recruited for a 7‐day experiment (5 men and 5 women from an urban and a semi‐urban area). Displacements of the vehicle and images of the driver and scenery were recorded. The analysis of the stop‐controlled intersections (986) showed that older drivers seldom stop completely at intersections. Overall, men showed a minimal speed that exceeded 4.99 km/h for more than 60% of the intersections (38% for the women). The braking strategies did not vary as a function of the area of residence (p > .05). A total of 1 561 speeding events were identified. Overall, speeding was more frequent on roads where the speed is limited to 50 km/h (907 events) (p  0,05). Un total de 1 561 excès de vitesse a été identifié. Un plus grand nombre de dépassements de vitesse a été observé dans des zones de limitation de vitesse à 50 km/h (907 événements) (p < 0,05). Parmi ces excès de vitesse, elles montrent des stratégies de conduite adoptées par le conducteur âgé en situations naturelles