The effect of behavioral skills training on shot performance in field hockey

Behavior analysis procedures have been used to improve sports performance and enhance player safety across a wide variety of sports. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on three common field hockey shots, a slap shot, drive, and sweep for young field hockey players. The procedures were evaluated in a multiple baseline across behaviors for three players. Results showed increases in each type of shot once intervention was implemented.     

Intelligence culturelle comme prédicteur de la performance au travail en expatriation : rôle médiateur de l’ajustement culturel

The present study aims at testing the effects of cultural intelligence (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural facets) onto job performance in expatriation (dimensions relevant to task, effort demonstration, leadership, discipline maintenance, communication, administrative and managerial responsibilities) mediated by cross-cultural adjustment (global, interactional and job facets). Data are collected via an electronic survey administered to French expatriates (N = 201) and further processed in SPSS 20.0 and Lisrel 8.80. An output latent variable model globally confirms a mediation hypothesis and leads to a number of original findings. Namely, motivational and behavioural facets of cultural intelligence have the largest effect onto job performance in expatriation, while metacognitive facet has no effect at all. As regards job performance itself, the task dimension is the least dependent upon cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment as compared to job performance aspects relevant to workplace relationships and team management (e.g., communication or leadership performance). The results are discussed in terms of their novelty and several research perspectives are proposed.     

The effects of secondary tasks that involve listening and speaking on young adult drivers with traits associated with autism spectrum disorders: A pilot study with driving simulation

A driver’s license is key to independence for many young adults, including those with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, individuals with ASDs may face special challenges when learning to drive. If effective driver training is to be devised for this demographic, it is important to determine the nature of these challenges. Driving inherently requires multitasking (e.g. steering, speed maintenance, navigation, hazard detection) and drivers are routinely obligated to combine driving with the demands of listening and responding to others, as occurs during driving lessons. Given that individuals who display traits associated with ASDs may have special difficulties with secondary tasks and especially those that involve socialization, we examined the effects of secondary tasks that involve listening and responding to questions while driving. We compared performance when simply driving (the control condition), driving while listening (the audiobook condition), and driving while listening and speaking (the prompt: answer condition). The autism spectrum quotient (AQ:Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001), a commonly used self-report questionnaire intended to measure traits associated with ASDs in research, was used to identify young drivers with more and fewer traits related to ASDs in a community sample, (None had a clinical diagnosis of ASD.) Consistent with studies of drivers clinically diagnosed with ASDs, we found that high AQ scorers reported greater mental and physical demand, effort, and frustration when driving, and showed more moment-to-moment variability in lane position and hazard reaction compared to low AQ scorers as measured in a driving simulator. Differences between the low and high scorers were typically largest when secondary tasks were imposed, but the predicted interaction between drive condition and AQ group only emerged in terms of steering variability.     

Psychometric adaption of the impulsive driver behavior scale in a Chinese sample

Impulsivity plays an important role in aberrant driving behavior and crash involvement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Impulsive Driver Behavior Scale (IDBS, Bıçaksız & Özkan, 2016a) with a Chinese sample. Two hundred and ninety-nine drivers completed the Chinese version of the Impulsive Driver Behavior Scale, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, the Big Five Inventory and some social-demographic and traffic violation items. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a four-factor solution with 20 items yielded a better fit to the data than other solutions. The reduced IDBS showed good reliability and a stable structure. Drivers’ functional impulsivity was positively correlated with positive driver behavior and some ordinary violations. Meanwhile, the other three dimensions of dysfunctional impulsivity showed negative correlations with positive driver behavior and positive associations with aberrant driving behavior and penalty points and fines. Impulsive driver behavior is also associated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. These results provide evidence supporting the IDBS as a reliable and valuable instrument for measuring driving impulsivity in the Chinese traffic environment.     

The effect of the emotional state on driving performance in a simulated car-following task

Emotion is an important factor that influences driving behavior, but the mechanism is unclear. This research explored the effect of the emotional state on simulated driving behavior. Thirty-five licensed drivers participated in this study and completed a car-following task. The angry, happy and neutral states were manipulated during the task. The participants’ driving performance and risk perception were recorded under each emotional state. Trait anger and driving experience were also measured to explore the possible mediating effect. The results showed that the drivers in an angry or happy emotional state tended to maintain less time to collision and take a longer time to brake while following a lead vehicle than the drivers under the neutral condition, suggesting that drivers in emotional states are more dangerous those in neutral states. Moreover, the happy state rendered the drivers more dangerous, which manifested as a lower perceived accident risk than that among the drivers in the angry and neutral states. More specifically, experienced drivers in happy states performed worse with respect to vehicle lateral position control. Recommendations and implications for safety education and further research are discussed.     

Effects of training and display content on Level 2 driving automation interface usability

IntroductionLevel 2 driving automation features, such as adaptive cruise control (ACC) combined with lane centering, primarily communicate their operating statuses through the instrument cluster. It remains unclear how interface-specific training and display content influence the ability to understand Level 2 activity in production vehicles.MethodsEighty participants viewed videos recorded from the driver’s point of view in a variety of driving scenarios with Level 2 activity displayed in the instrument cluster of a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Half viewed one of two instrument cluster layouts (simple or complex), and half received an orientation to the interface before the experiment. After each video, they were asked about the scenario they had just seen. We then examined what information in the displays participants used to identify Level 2 activity and the usability of the displays.ResultsTraining improved recognition accuracy of when lane centering was temporarily inactive and understanding of why it was inactive. Neither training nor display content affected the ability to recognize when ACC had adjusted the vehicle’s speed or detected a vehicle ahead, or when ACC initially did not detect a lead vehicle and understanding of why it had not detected it. Both factors influenced which sources of information participants used to determine Level 2 activity. Recognition accuracy of system activity improved when participants used valid sources of information. Training, but not display content, improved lane centering usability, but not ACC usability.DiscussionBasic training improves detection of notifications that potentially require further driver action, but not of those that display persistent status information. Training does not result in full understanding of all system notifications or functional limitations, which reinforces the need for intuitive, salient communication about system behavior and its limitations.     

Mild functional decline and driving performance of older drivers without a diagnosed dementia: Study of leukoaraiosis and cognitive function

Motor vehicle collisions involving older drivers have increased and become an important social issue. It is known that the decline of cognitive function, including dementia, affects driving performance. A series of studies using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and other tests of dementia have attempted to prevent motor vehicle collisions by identifying as early as possible older drivers who may be unable to maintain their driving performance. Further, the performance of older drivers may deteriorate even if they do not have a diagnosis of dementia. Therefore we focused on the relationship between cognitive functioning assessed by the MMSE and diagnosis of leukoaraiosis (LA), or changes in the cerebral white matter, with different aspects of driving behavior resulting from aging. Qualified driving instructors evaluated participants’ driving behaviors on an outdoor driving course at a driving school. Visual search duration and angle at intersections were obtained by wearable wireless sensors. Vehicle speed and minimum vehicle speed were recorded from vehicle speed pulse signals. Duration of signaling and visual searches at unsignalized intersections were recorded using an in-vehicle camera. We assessed instructors’ evaluations and the scores on two instruments to evaluate the effects of MMSE scores and the grade of LA on driving performance were verified. The results suggest that lower MMSE scores and higher LA grade can predict some aspects of poor driving performance in older drivers before they experience dementia or an evident decline in cognitive functioning. Based on these results, we discuss countermeasures that may prevent motor vehicle collisions involving older drivers.     

Contributory factors to sleepiness amongst London bus drivers

Driver sleepiness contributes to a substantial proportion of all road crashes. Despite all that is known about driver sleepiness, bus drivers are often overlooked. What is certain is that bus drivers have the potential to suffer from sleepiness as they are shift workers. The current research used a large online survey to investigate sleepiness amongst London bus drivers. There were two aims; to quantify the prevalence of sleepiness amongst London bus drivers, and to determine the factors which contributed to sleepiness. Overall, 20.8% of respondents indicated that they had to fight sleepiness at least 2–3 times a week, and 36.6% of respondents stated that they had experienced a close call due to sleepiness in the past year. There were several potential causes of sleepiness including work, sleep, and personal factors such as obtaining less than 11 h rest between shifts, working 6 or more days without a rest day, and poor self-reported health. These findings show that sleepiness is common amongst London bus drivers and is caused by a combination of factors. The combination of contributory factors suggests that a multifaceted approach should be taken to reduce bus driver sleepiness.     

Aging drivers and post delineated express lanes: Threading the needle at 70 miles per hour

Post-delineated express lanes represent a combination of driving complexities that are particularly difficult for older drivers to navigate. The narrow geometry and high speeds that are common to this treatment reflect a critical test for drivers whose depth perception, contrast sensitivity, and visual processing speed are reduced. The present study was designed to empirically examine the effects of age and color of express lane delineators on driver behavior. Three groups of participants (aged 18–39, 40–64, and 65 + years old) were required to complete a series of simulated driving scenarios consisting of combinations of single and dual lane configurations, with speed and lane position measured at the beginning and midpoint of each express lane. All drivers were pre-screened on various visual functioning abilities. Drivers in the 65 and older group show significant age-related declines in depth perception, contrast sensitivity, and phoria which were subsequently correlated with a wide range of driving measures including deceleration rate, brake time, jerk, speed, and lane position. Age related perceptual declines were statistically correlated with slower driving speed and wider lane deviations, including a statistically significant increase in the number of excursions beyond the typical 12-foot lane width. Based on these findings, the behavior of senior drivers was identified as a distinct design condition that should govern the design of high-speed, narrow geometric conditions. This age group requires wider lane widths, particularly at the beginning of single-lane post delimited sections, wider buffer areas around the post markers, and dual lane configurations wherever possible.     

Perception of unsafe driving behaviour and reported driving behaviour among commercial motorcyclists in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

Commercial motorcycle drivers are recognised to take high risks while driving, but little is known about their perception of these risks. This paper presents the results of a survey of 400 commercial motorcyclists' perception of unsafe driving behaviours and then determine the association between the perception of unsafe driving behaviour and reported driving behaviour. The study was carried out in Dar es Salaam between December 8th 2018 and March 24th 2019. Drivers aged 18 years and above were selected from 90 parking stages within the city and completed a structured interview. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratios (PRs). We found that close to 60% of drivers considered unsafe driving to be unsafe. However, reported unsafe driving behaviour was moderately common. Our results showed that reported unsafe driving behaviour (adjusted PR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.3–2.2) was associated with a low perception of the dangers of unsafe driving among motorcyclists. The higher the earnings a driver had (adjusted PR = 1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.0), the higher the likelihood of having a low perceived risk of unsafe behaviour. These findings suggest that commercial motorcyclists' unsafe behaviour are, for the most part, not the result of a poor perception of the involved risks.