The primary objective of this case-control study was to analyse time-sharing strategies in patients with cerebral lesions when they performed everyday in-car tasks in real-life highway driving. Thirteen male patients with brain damage and 11 healthy controls participated. The frequency and duration of glances at the in-car tasks, total time of eyes-off the road during tasks, speed and lateral displacement of the car were recorded. Long glances away from the road and consequent large lateral displacements were characteristic for patients with anterior damage, while the patients with more posterior lesions used frequent short glances at the in-car task. Two different time-sharing strategies that appeared to be related to different aetiology were found in the patients, indicating different control of the driving task. It is proposed that standardized on-road dual tasks should be used for detecting problems in allocation of attention during driving. (Author/publisher)
Abstract