Economical Visual Attention Test for Elderly Drivers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, quick visual attention test for elderly drivers that assesses driving aptitude by measuring response performance to visual stimuli, correlating with age and detecting low performers.

Contribution

The study proposes a novel, simple visual search task that effectively evaluates elderly drivers' attention and correlates with age, suitable for low-cost screening.

Findings

Performance correlates with age.

Low performers can be detected.

Feasible with low-cost devices.

Abstract

Traffic accidents involving elderly drivers are an issue in a super-aging society. A quick and low-cost aptitude test is required to reduce the number of traffic accidents. This study proposed an oddball-serial visual search task that assesses the individual's performance by his or her responses to the presence of cued stimuli on the screen. Task difficulty varied by changing the number of simultaneous stimuli; Accordingly, low performers were detected. In addition, performance correlated with age. This implies that individual characteristics related to driving performance that decline with age can be detected by the proposed task. Since the task requires low-cost devices (computer and response button), it is feasible for use as a quick and low-cost aptitude test for elderly drivers.