A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Younger and Older Adults' Simulated Highway Driving Performance Under Single and Dual Task Conditions

Reimer, Bryan; Mehler, Bruce; Son, Joonwoo; Pohlmeyer, Anna E; Orszulak, Jarrod; Long, Jonathon; Coughlin, Joseph F · 2009 · Crossref

DOI: 10.17077/drivingassessment.1323

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Summary

This study investigates how age and culture influence drivers’ ability to manage dual-task demands during simulated highway driving. While it is well-established that attentional capacity declines with age and that inattention contributes significantly to crashes, the extent to which cultural factors moderate these age-related changes remains unclear. The research aimed to determine if patterns of driving performance under cognitive load generalize across different cultural contexts, specifically comparing drivers in the United States and South Korea. The researchers conducted a parallel driving simulation study using equivalent instrumentation and protocols at the MIT AgeLab in the US and the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology in Korea. The sample consisted of 135 participants (72 US, 63 Korea) divided into younger (20–29 years) and older (60–69 years) groups. Participants engaged in a 15-minute highway driving scenario while performing an auditory n-back cognitive task, which induced varying levels of workload (0-back, 1-back, and 2-back). Driving performance was measured via forward velocity, speed control variability, and lateral lane position standard deviation. Cognitive performance was assessed by error rates on the n-back task. Results indicated significant main effects for both age and culture on baseline performance. Older drivers drove slower and exhibited greater speed variability than younger drivers. US participants drove faster than Korean participants but with more consistent speed control. Older Korean participants reported poorer physical well-being and performed worse on the cognitive task than their US counterparts. Under dual-task conditions, all groups showed a compensatory decrease in forward velocity and a reduction in lateral lane variation, suggesting a rigidification of control to manage divided attention. Older drivers experienced a more pronounced increase in speed variability during the cognitive task. Notably, the relative impact of the dual-task demands on driving performance metrics was largely consistent across cultures, despite baseline differences. The only exception was younger Korean drivers, who showed increased lane position variability after the task ceased. The findings suggest that while absolute driving performance differs by age and culture, the fundamental behavioral strategies used to cope with increased cognitive workload—specifically compensatory slowing and reduced lateral movement—are universal across the studied populations. This implies that vehicle design and distraction mitigation aids may not need to be culturally specific to address the core mechanisms of inattentive driving, though baseline performance capabilities vary. The study highlights that older drivers, particularly those with lower baseline cognitive or health status, are more vulnerable to performance degradation under dual-task conditions.

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Topics

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• cognitive capacity variation
• cultural cross national
• dual task performance
• mental demand
• older drivers
• temporal

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model, computational model