title: Cognitive performance and neural correlates of detecting driving hazards in healthy older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In spite of the growing number of seniors who drive and their relatively frequent involvement in accidents, little is known about the cognitive substrates of road hazard recognition and their relationship with general cognitive performance in this population. We aimed to investigate, using a combination of functional MRI (fMRI) and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, the anatomical and cognitive components of driving hazard recognition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen healthy active drivers aged between 65 and 87 years underwent neuropsychological evaluation and fMRI scanning. fMRI was performed while subjects watched a video composed of clips of driving hazards randomly interspersed with uneventful driving clips. We investigated brain areas that are recruited for hazard detection, in contrast to brain areas responding to driving without a hazard. The performance on neuropsychological tests was then regressed with the degree of activation of cortical areas related exclusively to detecting hazards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Driving hazards generated significant activations, compared to non-hazards, in the lateral associative occipital cortex and in the right prefrontal cortex. Intensity of brain activation was correlated on performance on memory and cognitive control neuropsychological tests.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future studies can possibly address the same relationship in early dementia, as a preliminary form of investigation for driving safety.
authors: Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29203, USA. Victor.Hirth@Palmettohealth.org
authors: Victor A
authors: VA
authors: Hirth
authors: Ben
authors: B
authors: Davis
authors: Julius
authors: J
authors: Fridriksson
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Rorden
authors: Leonardo
authors: L
authors: Bonilha
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values