title: Hostility, driving anger, and dangerous driving: the emerging role of hemispheric preference.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various studies have implicated psychosocial variables (e.g., hostility) in risk of dangerous driving and traffic accidents. However, whether these variables are related to more basic neurobiological factors, and whether such associations have implications for the modification of psychosocial risk factors in the context of driving, have not been examined in depth. This study examined the relationship between hemispheric preference (HP), hostility and self-reported dangerous driving, and the ability to affect driving anger via hemisphere activating cognitive exercises (HACE).
  
  
  METHODS
  In Study 1, 254 Turkish students completed questionnaires of hostility, HP and driving behavior. In Study 2, we conducted a "proof of concept" experimental study, and tested effects of left, right and neutral HACE on driving anger, by exposing N=650 Turkish students to written scenarios including either logical (left hemisphere), visuo-spatial (right hemisphere) or "mild doses" of both types of contents (control).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Study 1, left-HP was associated with higher hostility and with more dangerous driving, and hostility mediated the relationship between L-HP and reported driving behavior. In Study 2, only right-HACE led to immediate significant reductions in self-reported driving anger.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Left-HP is related to hostility and to dangerous driving, and it may be possible to partly reduce driving anger by right-HACE. Future studies must replicate these findings with objective measures, more enduring interventions and longer follow-ups.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of medicine & pharmacy, the Free University of Brussels-VUB, Belgium. Electronic address: Yori.Gidron@vub.ac.be.
authors.forename: Yori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gidron
authors.affiliation: Dept. of psychology, Middle Eastern Technical University, Turkey.
authors.forename: Esma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gaygısız
authors.affiliation: Dept. of psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lajunen
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive exercises; Dangerous driving; Driving anger; Hemispheric preference; Hostility