AUTHOR=Casutt Gianclaudio , Theill Nathan , Martin Mike , Keller Martin , Jäncke Lutz 

TITLE=The drive-wise project: driving simulator training increases real driving performance in healthy older drivers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00085

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2014.00085

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Age-related cognitive decline is often associated with unsafe driving behavior. We hypothesized that 10 active training sessions in a driving simulator increase cognitive and on-road driving performance. In addition, driving simulator training should outperform cognitive training.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Ninety-one healthy active drivers (62–87 years) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) a driving simulator training group, (2) an attention training group (vigilance and selective attention), or (3) a control group. The main outcome variables were on-road driving and cognitive performance. Seventy-seven participants (85%) completed the training and were included in the analyses. Training gains were analyzed using a multiple regression analysis with planned orthogonal comparisons.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The driving simulator-training group showed an improvement in on-road driving performance compared to the attention-training group. In addition, both training groups increased cognitive performance compared to the control group.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Driving simulator training offers the potential to enhance driving skills in older drivers. Compared to the attention training, the simulator training seems to be a more powerful program for increasing older drivers' safety on the road.</p>