Cognitive and Psychomotor Correlates of Hazard Perception Ability and Risky Driving

Deficits in specific cognitive and psychomotor capacities, such as attention, reaction time, memory, and hand-eye coordination ability are associated with increased crash risk, especially among older drivers (e.g., Anstey et al., 2005). Higher-order cognitive processes are also closely linked with hazard perception skills (e.g., Groeger, 2000). Employing a large professional driver sample, this study examines cognitive and psychomotor correlates of driver hazard perception detection accuracy (HPDA) and risky driving. Professional drivers (N = 2541) who applied to psycho-technical driver assessment centers were administered a number of computer-based measures of hazard perception, monotonous and selective attention, reasoning, visual pursuit, visual perception, hand-eye coordination, and reaction time. They also completed a self-reported measure of aberrant driver behaviors and reported the accidents involved and violation tickets taken in last three years. Results showed that attention capacity and psychomotor abilities were consistently associated with HPDA. Regression analyses revealed that selective attention, reasoning ability, and visual pursuit were moderately strong predictors of HPDA. These variables, however, weakly but significantly predicted the indicators of risky driving including aberrant driving behaviors, road traffic accidents, and violation tickets. These results suggest that hazard perception skills mediate the link between specific cognitive/perceptual skills and risky driving. The findings underscore the role of higher-order perceptual and cognitive processes, especially selective attention and reasoning, underlying hazard perception ability and have implications for driver assessment, training, and cognitive demands for driving

Apego ansioso y evitativo de los padres como predictor de ansiedad y eficacia académica de los hijos en la niñez media

Previous work has documented that attachment security is systematically linked with child adjustment and academic competence. This study aims to examine the associations between parents\u27 own report of anxious and avoidant attachment and their children\u27s report of trait anxiety and academic self-efficacy in math and Turkish literature courses. Mothers (N=1539) and fathers (N=1436) from four cities in Turkey, separately completed the measures of attachment orientations, and their children (N=1877), attending 4th and 5th grades, completed the measures of trait anxiety and academic self-concept on math and literature courses in their school. Regression analyses showed that whereas mother attachment anxiety predicted boys\u27 trait anxiety, father attachment avoidance predicted girls\u27 anxiety. In predicting academic self-efficacy, mother attachment avoidance predicted their son\u27s and father attachment anxiety predicted their daughter\u27s academic self-efficacy in both math and literature courses. Our results confirmed the importance of having a warm and secure romantic attachment between spouses in marriage, not only for their relationship satisfaction and happiness, but also for their children\u27s emotional adjustment and academic competence.El trabajo anterior documentó que el apego seguro está sistemáticamente relacionado con la adaptación y las competencias académicas de los hijos. Este estudio pretende investigar la relación entre el informe de los padres sobre el apego ansioso y evitativo y el informe de sus hijos sobre la ansiedad rasgo y la autoeficacia académica en matemáticas y literatura turca. Madres (N=1539) y padres (N=1436) de cuatro ciudades en Turquía completaron por separado medidas de orientaciones de apego y sus hijos (N=1877) que frecuentan la 4ª y la 5ª clase completaron medidas de ansiedad rasgo y autoconcepto académico en matemáticas y literatura turca en su escuela. El análisis regresivo ha mostrado que el apego ansioso de las madres predecía la ansiedad rasgo de los niños, y el apego evitativo predecía la ansiedad de las niñas. Cuando se trata de la autoeficacia académica, el apego evitativo de las madres predecía la autoeficacia académica de sus hijos, y el apego ansioso de los padres predecía la autoeficacia de sus hijas, tanto en matemáticas como en la literatura turca. Nuestros resultados confirman la importancia que tiene una relación romántica segura entre los cónyuges, no sólo para la satisfacción y felicidad en su relación, sino también para la adaptación emocional y la competencia académica de sus hijos

Güvensiz bağlanma neden yaygın? Bir erken uyarı ve uzaklaşma sistemi olarak güvensiz bağlanma (Why is insecure attachment prevalent? Insecure attachment as an early alarm and escape system)

Bağlanma yazininin güvenli bağlanmanin yararlarini, güvensiz bağlanmanin ise olumsuz sonuçlarini gösteren araş-tirma bulgulariyla dolu olmasina karşin, bütün kültürlerde hem çocuklarin hem de yetişkinlerin neredeyse yarisinin güvensiz bağlandiği bilinmektedir. Bu durum bağlanma paradoksu olarak adlandirilmiştir. Bağlanmayi evrimsel açidan ele alan ve birbirini tamamlayan iki yaklaşim, güvensiz bağlanma yönelimlerinin farkli çevresel koşullar altinda ayirt edici ve uyumu kolaylaştiran bir işlev üstlendiğini öne sürerek bu paradoksu açiklamiştir. Bağlanmanın yaşam geçmişi modelleri, güvensiz bağlanmanin sert ekolojilerde artan üreme uygunluğuna vesile olabileceğini öne sürerken, sosyal savunma kuramı güvensiz bağlanmanin öngörülemeyen tehdit durumlarinda grubun hayatta kalma şansini arttirdiği varsayimina dayanir. Bu derlemenin amaci güvensiz bağlanmanin hangi koşullar altinda uyumlayiciolabileceğini savlayan bu iki yaklaşimi ve bu kapsamda yapilan araştirmalari derlemek ve Türkçe yazina kazandir-maktir

Cognitive and Psychomotor Correlates of Self-Reported Driving Skills and Behavior

The purpose of this study is to predict self-reported driving and safety skills, traffic violations, and errors by using the measures of cognitive and psychomotor abilities. Male drivers (N = 716, mean age = 36.59) were administered the computerized measures of monotonous and selective attention, visual pursuit, eye-hand coordination, reaction time, and peripheral perception. They also responded to the measures of driving skills and behaviors. Examination of the correlations indicated that the indices of visual pursuit, coordination, peripheral perception, and reaction time significantly correlated with driving skills and aberrant behaviors. The results of the sequential regression analyses controlling for age, level of education, and annual km revealed that selective attention negatively and significantly predicted both types of skills and positively predicted violations and errors. Peripheral perception, visual pursuit, and reaction time were the significant predictors of driving skills and errors in the expected direction. Cognitive and psychomotor abilities accounted for 11% to 17% of the variances in the self-reported driving variables. Results suggested that although the magnitude of the associations was relatively weak, psychomotor and cognitive/perceptual abilities are associated with self-reported driving performance and behaviors for young and middle-aged drivers. These findings indicated that certain measures of cognitive and psychomotor abilities, such as peripheral perception and selective attention, have implications for driver assessment systems and should be carefully examined in future research

Assessment of Hazard Perception Latencies Using Real Life and Animated Traffic Hazards: Comparison of Novice and Experienced Drivers

High accident risk of novice and inexperienced drivers is associated with their poor hazard perception ability. In past studies, hazard perception latencies (reaction time) were measured using hazards in simulated traffic environments, scenario-based video clips, or photographs, but rarely with real-life traffic situations. We developed two different measures to assess hazard perception ability (1) video clips of hazards recorded in real-life traffic settings and (2) the video clips of animated hazards. We compared these two measures in terms of their power in discriminating between novice and experienced drivers. Novice (N= 43) and experienced drivers (N = 65) were admisistered computerbased Turkish Hazard Perception Tests consisting of 40 real traffic and animated video clips of hazards. Results revealed that although experienced drivers detected the hazards relatively earlier than the novices on average, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant for both real-traffic and video clips. Examination of the group differences on each item suggested video clips reflecting actual traffic situations discriminate novice and experienced drivers better than animated clips. Content analyses of the clips that significantly discriminated groups revealed that novice drivers have difficulty in detecting hazards resulting from an unexpected or suddent violation of road users. It seemed that lack of experience in anticipating the other road users’ violations creates a critical vulnerability for the safety of novice drivers

Kentsel kavşaklardaki elektronik denetim sistemlerinin trafik kazalarına etkisi: Ankara örneği

Junctions in urban areas, especially in the metropolitan cities are one of the most critical locations, for both transportation mobility and traffic safety. In recent years, the red light camera enforcement systems (RLCES), implemented in the major junctions are expected to contribute to urban traffic safety. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the RLCES at junctions in Ankara on both general traffic safety and the prevalence of car crashes and pedestrian accidents. The traffic safety indicators that were measured on 21 junctions where RLCES were installed were compared with 44 conventional red light signalized junctions located around the junctions with RLCES. Considering that RLCES were installed in 2010, the data on car crashes and pedestrian accidents were collected in three years period, beginning from 2009, when there was no RLCES, 2010 representing the installment year, as well as 2011 following the installment. Analyses were conducted separately on car crashes and pedestrian accidents. To better understand the effects of RLCES, junction type, year, and their interactions, 2 (junctions with and without RLCES) X 3 (year: 2009, 2010, 2011) ANOVAs were run on the number of car crashes and pedestrian accidents. Results demonstrated that there was no significant main effect of RLCES, year, and their interaction on car accidents. However, presence of RLCES had a significant effect on pedestrian accidents. Unexpectedly, the junctions having RLCES had higher pedestrian accidents on average (Mean = 1.97) than those with no RLCES (Mean = 0.61). Results were discussed considering the previous findings in Western countries.Publisher's Versio

Traffic Violations and Errors: The Effects of Sensation Seeking and Attention

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sensationseeking and attention in traffic violations and errors. Participants were 716volunteer male drivers from Ankara, Turkey. Drivers were asked to respond tocomputerized measures of monotonous and selective attention tests, and also tocomplete the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, Driving Skills Inventory, and ArnettInventory of Sensation Seeking. We first categorized participants into four groupsaccording to their correct responses of monotonous and selective attention tests byusing median-split: Group 1 = low scores on both monotonous and selectiveattention tests, Group 2 = high scores on both monotonous and selective attentiontests, Group 3 = low on monotonous attention and high on selective attention, andGroup 4 = high on monotonous attention and low on selective attention.Participants were also classified into two groups regarding their total sensationseeking scores as low and high sensation seekers. A 4 (attention groups) X 2(sensation seeking groups) MANOVA was conducted on traffic violations anderrors as dependent variables. MANOVA analysis indicated that high sensationseekers with high monotonous and selective attention are more likely to have ahigher number of traffic violations and errors than other groups. Since thesedrivers also reported lower levels of safety skills than other groups, it could beinterpreted as an indication of drivers’ overconfidence in their skills andunderestimation of the hazards in traffic. Such drivers were more likely to be risktakers in traffic situations

Role of Monotonous Attention in Traffic Violations, Errors, and Accidents

Recent traffic Law in Turkey requires that drivers whose driving licenses were withheld because of their serious traffic offences be subjected to “psychotechnical assessment” tests. These tests must include measures for psychomotor and mental abilities such as monotonous attention, peripheral perception, and reasoning. Currently, we are in process of developing a computer based psychotechnical driver test system. This study investigates the validity of the monotonous attention test that is one of the measures in our system. Participants were 79 volunteer drivers from Ankara, Turkey. First, drivers completed the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) measuring violations and errors and demographic items regarding drivers’ history of offences and accidents. Second, participants were asked to respond the Traffic Monotonous Attention Test that is a cancellation task. Initial analysis revealed that the correlations between the scores of attention index and other major variables were not significant. Therefore, a tripartite split was performed on the participants’ attention scores. The results of ANOVAs revealed that those who had medium level of attention (incorrect responses) reported higher levels of driving errors than both high and low attention groups. The examination of the relationships between accident type and the continuous attention scores indicated that those having active accidents also had higher levels of both incorrect and omitted responses than no accident and passive accident groups. Findings of this study seem to imply that individual differences in the monotonous attention should be related with accident involvement and therefore, should be considered in devising a computer-based system including the measure of monotonous attention

Duyusal işlemleme hassasiyeti: kuramsal çerçeve ve derleme çalışması

Bu çalışmanın amacı Aron ve Aron (1997) tarafından geliştirilen ve son yıllarda özellikle kişilik psikolojisi alanında yaygın olarak çalışılan Duyusal İşlemleme Hassasiyeti (DİH; sensory processing sensitivity) üzerine yapılan çalışmaları derlemektir.DİH iç veya dış kaynaklı uyarıcılara karşı aşırı hassas olma durumu olarak tanımlanan kalıtımsa bir yetişkin mizaç özelliğidir. Bu yazıda DİH üzerine yapılmış geçmiş çalışmalar sistematik olarak taranmış ve altı alt bölümde derlenen 35 görgül çalışma ışığında konu detaylı olarak ele alınmıştır. Yapılan çalışmalarda DİH’in biyolojik altyapıya dayandığı ve utangaçlık, içekapanıklılık ve negatif duygulanım gibi kişilik özellikleriyle yakın ilişkili olduğu görülmüştür. DİH’in stres ve depresyon gibi olumsuz psikolojik değişkenlerle ilişkili bulunması aşırı hassas kişiler için dezavantaj olarak görülse de dış ve iç kaynaklı uyaranlara karşı hızlı farkındalık ve tepkisellik bu kişilik özelliğinin işlevsel yönünü ortaya koymaktadır. Alt başlıklarda özetlenen temel bulgular DİH’in kişilik özelliklerinden olumsuz psikolojik sonuçlara kadar birçok alanda önemli doğurguları olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu kapsamda ilgili kültürel faktörler ve gelecek çalışmalara ilişkin öneriler de tartışılmıştır

Factors influencing children's appraisals of interparental conflict: the role of parent-child relationship quality

The cognitive contextual model proposes that children’s appraisals of interparental conflict (IPC) can influence their adjustment. In addition, previous research revealed that interparental disputes may reflect on parent-child relationship that is linked with children’s self-blame and threat appraisals concerning IPC. However, there is a scarcity of research directly addressing the intervening role of the parent-child relationship on children’s appraisals of IPC. Thus, we investigated the mediating role of different aspects of the parent-child relationship (i.e., psychological control, warmth, and attachment security) in the link between IPC and self-blame and threat appraisals. Participants were 1,309 children, their mothers, and their fathers. SEM analyses indicated that higher IPC was related to higher parental psychological control and lower child attachment security, which in turn was associated with higher self-blame or threat appraisals. The pattern of relationships was similar across child and parent gender