THRIVE TO DRIVE: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PHYSICAL FITNESS, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, AND

ADOLESCENT DRIVING SAFETY

Daniel Cox and Ann Lambert

Complacency, thy name is collisionsIn 2007 Israel was shocked to learn they had 397 vehicular fatalities

In 2009 Israel activated a national behavioral intervention that reduced their annual fatalities by 26%

In the US in 2008 there were 350,000+ fatalities and 15+ million injuries annually solely in the 15-29 age group, and there is no national campaign

Kudos to YouthNEX and our colleagues for taking this seriously and supporting our work!

Patrick Tolan, Ph.D. Ann Lambert, Ph.D. Ron Reeves, Ph.D

Joe Allen, Ph.D.

Daniel Cox, Ph.D.

Art Weltman, Ph.D. John Sirard,Ph.D.

Premise: Novice driver collisions are due to inexperience and poor judgment

1. Primary hypothesis: Poor judgment is equivalent to under-developed executive functioning which leads to risky and dangerous driving.

2. Secondary hypothesis: Executive functioning is, in part, driven by physical fitness.

THE PROBLEM

• Teens take more risks– Automobile accidents– Binge drinking– Contraceptive use– Crime

ADOLESCENTS AND RISK

WHY?

• Are teens more:– Irrational?– Prone to delusions

of invulnerability?– Ignorant?

ADOLESCENTS AND RISK

• Probably not.– Logic/reasoning abilities, risk perception, risk

salience of teens comparable to adults (Reyna & Farley 2006; Steinberg 2010).

– Psychosocial capacities of adolescents differ:• Impulse control• Emotion regulation• Delay of gratification• Resistance to peer influence

– Executive Function

SOME SCIENCE BEHIND THE PROBLEM

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION“Psychologists would rather share toothbrushes

than definitions of Executive Function.”

The ability to employ parallel processing and working memory that allows us to anticipate consequences, inhibit impulses, plan ahead, problem solve, and be creative in our interaction with the world.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

BREAKING THAT DOWN• Controlled Processing

– Organization and coordination of sub-processes

• Prefrontal Cortex = Goal Maintenance• Anterior Cigulate Cortex = Error Monitoring

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS:

•Inhibition•Planning•Problem Solving

ADOLESCENT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

30 years

7-young adulthood

1-3 years3-5 years

0-1 years

20 40

Fro

ntal

Cor

tex

Dev

elop

men

t

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND FATAL CRASHES

DRIVING AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

• Geriatric populations– On-road– Driving simulation– See Bieliaukas, 2005

• Adolescents– Driving simulation– Mantyla et al., 2009

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, ADOLESCENT RISK-TAKING AND DRIVING

The Perfect Storm:underdeveloped frontal cortex + presence of peers

= risk/benefit analysis

EXERCISE AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION• Older Adults (Kramer & Colcombe, 2003)• Children: Best 2010, Davis et al., 2011

RESEARCH GOAL

• Investigate the role executive function plays in general risk-taking and driving-specific risky behaviors of novice drivers, as well as the role physical activity and fitness play in the maturation of EF ability.

MODEL

PhysicalActivity

PhysicalFitness

Risk/DangerousRisk/DangerousBehaviorsBehaviors

DrivingDrivingMishapsMishaps

1+

2+

3+

4+

5-

6-

7+

8+

Affinity toTake Risk

RiskyDriving

Phase 3, Longitudinaldata

DrivingEF

9-

10-

12+

11+General

EF

RESEARCH PLAN

EXERCISE

• Physical Fitness: – VO2-Max

• Physical Activity: – G-S recall– ActiGraph accelerometers

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION• General EF

– Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)– Operation Span (OSPAN)

• Driving-specific EF– Novel in-simulator test

• divided attention, • selective attention, • dual processing, • response inhibition,• working memory

DRIVING PERFORMANCE & MISHAPS• Tactical Driving Simulation Test (during 2nd visit)• Instructor on-road ratings• 1st six months of independent driving

– Text message once a month

RISK

• General– Youth Risk Behavior Survey – Core Alcohol and Drug Survey– Self-Reported Delinquency

• Driving-Specific– Cox Assessment of Risky

Driving Scale (CARDS)

SUMMARY OF PREDICTIONS• Physical activity and physical fitness will

positively influence General EF.• General EF will lead to Driving-Specific EF. • General EF will predict general risk-taking.• Driving-Specific EF will predict Risky Driving.• Risky driving will predict future driving mishaps

over the first six months.

These data will serve as preliminary studies for a larger, experimentally based NIH proposal.

To follow up, contact• Daniel J. Cox, djc4f@virginia.edu• Ann Lambert, ael4n@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu