Assisting the older driver - SWOV

Assisting the older driver
Stating that experienced drivers can maintain their SA more efficiently than
inexperienced drivers does not mean that an experienced driver will always
have better SA. Experience can also have an adverse effect on SA. An
experienced driver who relies too much on mental schemata to select and
interpret information may misinterpret an unexpected situation or not even
notice it (Endsley, 2000; Wickens, 2001). These errors match the ones that
were discussed in the section on strengths and weaknesses according to
Rasmussen’s skill‐rule‐knowledge framework: as a result of habit formation,
routine actions are also carried out in situations in which they are not
appropriate, or changes in the situation at hand are not noticed. In cognitive
psychology, such adverse effects of experience are known as negative
transfer and attentional narrowing (see e.g., Johnson & Proctor, 2004;
Wickens & Hollands, 2000).
Bolstad and Hess (2000) have examined the effects of age‐related cognitive
changes on the acquisition of SA. For each of the levels of SA, they have
studied the effects of general slowing, decreasing processing resources, and
inhibition. In addition, they have examined whether experience can
compensate for any negative effects of ageing on SA. The results of Bolstad
and Hess’s exercise are summarised below. Note that, although Bolstad and
Hess focus on the cognitive aspects of ageing, they point out that changes in
sensory functions affect the acquisition of SA as well.
Age‐related declines in selective and divided attention may influence the
acquisition of level 1 SA through the reduced efficiency with which older
people search the environment for relevant information, and the extent to
which they can pay attention to different sources of information or perform
more than one task at the same time. Both cognitive changes may have a
negative effect on the quality and quantity of the information that people will
have at their disposal. Selective attention appears to be particularly affected
by ageing when the individual must search the environment for relevant
information or when target information competes with other information in
the environment. The impact of some attentional deficits can probably be
made smaller with appropriate environmental supports to guide processing.
Another way of guidance is provided by the mental models and schemata
which were discussed earlier: they will also direct the driver’s limited
attention to relevant aspects of the situation. Apart from declines in selective
and divided attention, cognitive slowing may also have a negative effect on
the acquisition of level 1 SA. This may particularly be the case in complex
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