Brain Training Keeps Older Drivers Safe

Two Studies Indicate Seniors Drive Longer and Drive Better after Cognitive
Exercises

Posit Science co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Michael Merzenich spoke today as the keynote speaker at The Eye and The Auto international conference, held at General Motors Technical Center campus. Dr. Merzenich spoke about the impact brain fitness training has on helping drivers maintain their ability to keep driving longer safely and under varied conditions. These clinically-validated results are
based on two studies led by cognitive aging and driving expert Jerri D.
Edwards, PhD, and recently published in The Gerontologist, a leading journal
on aging issues, and in the Journals of Gerontology, Medical Sciences.

The first study, The Staying Keen in Later Life (SKILL), funded by the
National Institutes of Health, included 500 healthy adults aged 60 and older.
Researchers divided the participants and followed them for three years. The
group of drivers who were at higher risk for an accident engaged in
computer-based cognitive training exercises over five weeks for a total of ten
hours. Researchers found that the high-risk drivers who did the brain fitness
training lowered their risk similar to the low-risk driving control group.
This high-risk group of drivers continued throughout the three years to
maintain the amount they drove and improved their confidence in driving under
varied conditions such as poor weather, driving at night and in high traffic.

The second study combined data from the SKILL study with the same inclusion
criteria from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital
Elderly (ACTIVE) study to measure driving cessation. Dr. Edwards and her team
in the combined study found that brain training delays the end of driving for
older drivers who have speed of processing difficulties. Prior studies have
found that the interactive software exercise improved older drivers' ability
to respond quickly to driving decisions, which helped them maintain their
ability to continue driving safely and with confidence.

"Science has brought us new ways to improve and extend driving," said Dr.
Edwards, assistant professor at the University of South Florida and lead
author on the studies. "It does not need to be a choice between uneasiness
about continued driving and negative outcomes that come from taking away the
keys because we can now train older drivers to improve their driving skills."

The brain fitness exercises used in the two studies are now commercially
available to the public in a software program called DriveSharp from Posit
Science. DriveSharp, which retails for $139, is recommended by the AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety and is available from AAA auto clubs at the
introductory price of $99.

source: reuters