title: Driving scenes test of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) and on-road driving performance in aging and very mild dementia.
abstract: The Driving Scenes test of the new Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB; [Stern, R.A., & White, T. (2003a). Neuropsychological Assessment Battery. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.]) measures several aspects of visual attention thought to be important for driving ability. The current study examined the relationship between scores on the Driving Scenes test and on-road driving performance on a standardized driving test. Healthy participants performed significantly better on the Driving Scenes test than did very mildly demented participants. A correlation of 0.55 was found between the brief, office-based Driving Scenes test and the 108-point on-road driving score. Furthermore, the Driving Scenes test scores differed significantly across the driving instructor's three global ratings (safe, marginal, and unsafe), and results of a discriminant function analysis indicated that the Driving Scenes test correctly classified 66% of participants into these groups. Thus, the new NAB Driving Scenes test appears to have good ecological validity for real-world driving ability in normal and very mildly demented older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: Laura B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cahn-Weiner
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Messer
authors.forename: Margaret C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lannon
authors.forename: Charleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maxwell
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Travis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ott
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception