Controllability of Partially Automated Driving functions – Does it matter whether drivers are allowed to take their hands off the steering wheel?

Different motor vehicle manufacturers have recently introduced assistance systems that are capable of both longitudinal and lateral vehicle control, while the driver still has to be able to take over the vehicle control at all times (so-called Partial Automation). While these systems usually allow hands-free driving only for short time periods (e.g., 10 s), there has been little research whether allowing longer time periods of hands-off driving actually has a negative impact on driving safety in situations that the automation cannot handle alone. Altogether, two partially automated assistance systems, differing in the permitted hands-off intervals (Hands-off system vs. Hands-on system, n = 20 participants per assistance condition, age 25–70 years) were implemented in the driving simulation with a realistic take-over concept. The Hands-off system is defined by having a permitted hands-off interval of 120 s, while the Hands-on system is defined by a permitted hands-off interval of 10 s. Drivers’ reactions at a functional system limit were tested under conditions of high ecological validity: while driving in a traffic jam, participants unexpectedly encountered a time-critical situation, consisting of a vehicle at standstill that appeared suddenly and required immediate action. A visual-auditory take-over request was issued to the drivers. Regardless of the hands-off interval, all participants brought the vehicle to a safe stop. In spite of a stronger brake reaction with the Hands-on system, no significant differences between assistance levels were found in brake reaction times and the criticality of the situation. The reason for this may be that most of the drivers kept contact with the steering wheel, even in the Hands-off condition. Neither age nor prior experience with ACC was found to impact the results. The study thus demonstrates that permitting longer periods of hands-off driving does not necessarily lead to performance deficits of the driver in the case of take-over situations, if a comprehensive take-over concept is implemented.     

Intrinsic motivation and individual deliberate practice are reciprocally related: Evidence from a longitudinal study of adolescent team sport athletes

ObjectiveThere is limited understanding of how sport motivation is associated with deliberate practice in youth team sport athletes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine prospective associations between intrinsic motivation and individual deliberate practice in specializing team sport athletes.DesignLongitudinal.MethodEstonian adolescent team sport athletes (N = 163; M_age – 13.6 years at the beginning of study) completed the Sport Motivation Scale and training diary across a 12-month period.ResultsBoth individual deliberate practice and intrinsic motivation increased over the 1-year period. Greater baseline intrinsic motivation predicted subsequent individual deliberate practice and greater initial individual deliberate practice predicted greater subsequent intrinsic motivation. The bidirectional relationship between athletes intrinsic motivation and individual deliberate practice were replicated across both time lags.ConclusionThe findings have significant implications for the importance placed on intrinsic motivation as a means of increasing of individual deliberate practice as well being an important outcome variable in specializing team sport athletes.     

Diagnoses,Relational Processes and Resourceful Dialogs: Tensions for Families and Family Therapy

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), given its psychiatric focus on mental disorders in individuals, presents families and family therapists with challenges. Despite considerable controversies over its adoption, the DSM‐5 extends a process of standardizing a language for human and relational concerns. No longer a diagnostic language of professionals alone, its use is medicalizing how mental health funders and administrators, as well as clients, respond to human concerns. For family therapists who practice systemically, particularly from poststructuralist and strengths‐based orientations, many tensions can follow when use of the DSM‐5 is expected by mental health administrators and funders, or by clients who present concerns about themselves or a diagnosed family member. In this paper, I explore how such DSM‐5 related tensions might be recognized, navigated, and negotiated in the practice of family therapy with clients, and with administrators and funders.     

The Symptom as Ally,not Enemy

The practice of the Western medicine often identifies the symptom with the disease itself, but a current of thought and medical practice considers it as the important message of an organic imbalance. In fact, in standard therapies symptoms are usually suppressed, thus interrupting a normal physiological process and risking severe reactions due to the organic imbalance. Dr. Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy, founded his diagnostic and therapeutic model on the interpretation of the symptoms and maintained that symptoms are an expression of altered physiology. The same concept is to be found in Dr. Reckeweg's “reactivity” and homotoxicology; he believed that diseases are the expression of the struggle of the body against toxins. Reckeweg's contribution was particularly important in considering the inflammation process as a biologic process through which the body restores its health. Also PNEI (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology) proposes a model where the symptom is interpreted as information and as the result of an imbalance. Several other medical approaches address particular attention to the meaning of symptoms. The Bach Flower Therapy, for instance, is guided exclusively by the negative moods, which can become the cause of functional and organic diseases; balance is restored thanks to superior harmonic energetic vibrations conveyed by the superior energy living in some flowers. This interpretation of the nature of symptoms is becoming a more and more relevant issue among both the specialistic and the general public.     

Secondary task engagement and vehicle automation – Comparing the effects of different automation levels in an on-road experiment

Recent and upcoming advances in vehicle automation are likely to change the role of the driver from one of actively controlling a vehicle to one of monitoring the behaviour of an assistant system and the traffic environment. A growing body of literature suggests that one possible side effect of an increase in the degree of vehicle automation is the tendency of drivers to become more heavily involved in secondary tasks while the vehicle is in motion. However, these studies have mainly been conducted in strictly controlled research environments, such as driving simulators and test tracks, and have mainly involved either low levels of automation (i.e., automation of longitudinal control by Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)) or Highly automated driving (i.e., automation of both longitudinal and lateral control without the need for continuous monitoring). This study aims to replicate these effects during an on-road experiment in everyday traffic and to extend previous findings to an intermediate level of automation, in which both longitudinal and lateral control are automated but the driver must still monitor the traffic environment continuously (so-called Partial automation). N = 32 participants of different age groups and different levels of familiarity with ACC drove in rush-hour traffic on a highway segment. They were assisted by ACC, ACC with steering assistance (ACC+SA), or not at all. The results show that while subjective and objective driving safety were not influenced by the degree of automation, drivers who were already familiar with ACC increased the frequency of interactions with an in-vehicle secondary task in both assisted drives. However, participants generally rated performing the secondary task as less effortful when being assisted, regardless of the automation level (ACC vs. ACC+SA). The results of this on-road experiment thus validate previous findings from more-controlled research environments and extend them to Partially automated driving.     

The relationship between working memory capacity and cortical activity during performance of a novel motor task

ObjectivesThis study assessed whether individual differences in working memory capacity influenced verbal-analytical processes when performing a novel motor skill.DesignParticipants performed a tennis-hitting task in two conditions: no pressure and high-pressure.MethodsEighteen young adults participated in the study. EEG coherence between the T3-F3 and T4-F4 regions in the Beta1 and Alpha2 frequencies was recorded during performance in each condition. Verbal and visuo-spatial working memory capacity were assessed using the Automated Working Memory Assessment.ResultsNo differences were found between the two conditions for hitting performance and EEG activity. However, across both conditions, verbal and visuo-spatial working memory were significant predictors of EEG coherence between the T3-F3 and T4-F4 regions in the Beta1 and Alpha2 frequencies. Larger verbal working memory capacity was associated with greater coherence while the opposite trend was observed for visuo-spatial working memory capacity.ConclusionsThese results indicate that larger verbal working memory capacity is associated with a greater tendency to use explicit processes during motor performance, whereas larger visuo-spatial working memory capacity is associated more with implicit processes. The findings are discussed with relevance to the theory of implicit motor learning.     

The role of inhibitory control and ADHD symptoms in the occurrence of involuntary thoughts about the past and future: An individual differences study

In everyday life, people often experience involuntary thoughts about their personal past and future events in response to incidental cues in the environment. Yet, despite the abundance of such cues, our consciousness is not constantly flooded by these involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) and involuntary future thoughts (IFTs). The main goal of the present study was to further investigate the possibility that cognitive inhibitory control keeps these involuntary cognitions at bay. To test this inhibition hypothesis, we conducted a large-scale study (n = 157) in which groups of participants with different levels of inhibitory control (low, medium, high) and individuals with ADHD spectrum symptoms were engaged in a laboratory vigilance task in which the frequency of IFTs and IAMs was assessed. Contrary to predictions, although participants across groups differed significantly in terms of their individual inhibitory control capacity, the number of IFTs and IAMs reported during the vigilance task was comparable. In addition, individuals with the ADHD spectrum symptoms did not report more spontaneous thoughts compared to other groups. Together, these findings lend little support for the idea that inhibition is a key mechanism that regulates the occurrence of IAMs and IFTs in everyday life. Other possible mechanisms and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Building a Life Worth Living During a Pandemic and Beyond: Adaptations of Comprehensive DBT to COVID-19

Our team at the Jefferson Center City Clinic for Behavioral Medicine has recently been challenged to find a synthesis between the need to adapt to circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time retaining the spirit and essential components of comprehensive DBT. This fine balance between unwavering centeredness and compassionate flexibility is central to DBT (Linehan, 1993), and has proven essential during these times of uncertainty. This short article highlights challenges and innovations faced by our DBT Team, Skills Group, individual DBT sessions, phone coaching, and also our community at large, as we strive to help our patients and team members build a life worth living during and following a pandemic.     

Constructing We‐ness: A Communal Coping Intervention for Couples Facing Chronic Illness

Communal coping occurs when relationship partners view a stressful health problem as “ours,” rather than yours or mine, and take collaborative action to deal with it. Although research employing linguistic (we‐talk) and other measures of communal coping demonstrates relevance to a variety of chronic illnesses, the literature offers little about how clinicians can actively promote we‐ness and teamwork to help patients and their partners achieve the health benefits this appears to confer. This paper highlights clinical and supporting scientific features of a narrative intervention designed to foster communal coping by couples in which one partner has a chronic illness. The illustrative illness is diabetes, but with modification the protocol is suitable for other chronic conditions as well. Grounded in systemic and narrative models of problem maintenance and change, the communal coping intervention represents a distillation of research and clinical experience with family consultation over several decades. In contrast to more directive and educational approaches, the intervention consists entirely of questions, with no direct suggestions or instruction about how patients, partners, or couples should change. These questions comprise 8 sequential modules (Coping Challenges, Trajectory and Focus, Illness as External Invader, You as a Couple, Past Teamwork in Overcoming Adversity, Present and Future Teamwork, Obstacles to Teamwork, and Wrap‐Up), described here in manual‐like detail.