Objective: Many studies addressing age-related changes in driving performance focus on comparing young vs. older drivers, which might lead to the biased conclusion that driving performance decreases only after the age of 65. The main aim of the study was to show that changes in driving performance are progressive throughout the adult years. Methods: A sample of 351 drivers aged from 20 to 80 was assessed for their reaction times while driving between road cones. The drivers were exposed to two conditions varying according to task complexity. In single task conditions, the drivers performed a full stopping manoeuvre at a given signal; in dual task conditions, the drivers were distracted before the signal for stopping manoeuvre was triggered. Reaction times were compared across conditions and age groups. Results: The results showed that both reaction times and variability of driving performance increased progressively between the ages of 20 and 80. The increase of both reaction times and variability was greater in the complex task condition. High performing quarter of elderly drivers performed equally well or better than younger drivers did. Conclusions: The data clearly supported the claim that driving performance changes steadily across age groups: both mean reaction time and inter-individual variability progressively increases with age. In addition, a significant group of older drivers were identified who did not show the expected age-related decrease in performance. The findings have important implications, suggesting that in relation to driving, ageing is a progressive phenomenon and may lead to variety of driving performance; age-related studies of driving performance should put more emphasis on investigating changes across the whole driver age range rather than only comparing younger and older drivers. The research added to the understanding of age-related changes in cognitive functions and cognitive control.
COBISS.SI-ID: 60115042
Background: We aimed to determine the added value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to clinical and imaging tests to predict progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to any type of dementia. Methods: The risk of progression to dementia was estimated using two logistic regression models based on 250 MCI participants: the first included standard clinical measures (demographic, clinical, and imaging test information) without CSF biomarkers, and the second included standard clinical measures with CSF biomarkers. Results: Adding CSF improved predictive accuracy with 0.11 (scale from 0-1). Of all participants, 136 (54%) had a change in risk score of 0.10 or higher (which was considered clinically relevant), of whom in 101, it was in agreement with their dementia status at follow-up. Discussion: An individual person's risk of progression from MCI to dementia can be improved by relying on CSF biomarkers in addition to recommended clinical and imaging tests for usual care. The research showed that it is important to combine different methods in monitoring cognitive functioning.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3596716
Schizophrenia exerts its devastating effects mostly by causing a profound and poorly understood inability to function, affecting different aspects of everyday life from daily activities to a lack of social contacts, unemployment, and the consequences of stigmatisation. In empirical studies, social dysfunction is defined as a social performance measure, commonly based on the principles of cognitivism, and usually evaluated in laboratory and everyday settings. In schizophrenia, it is thought to be caused by cognitive dysfunction, related to brain dysfunction. From a medical perspective, schizophrenia is understood as a neurodevelopmental disorder resulting in a pattern of disconnection between important brain areas. Nevertheless, measures of neurocognition do not explain the expected amount of variance in social functioning. Other explanatory models of social dysfunction include structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and clinical phenomenology. Phenomenological accounts relate to the classical tradition in psychopathology, which describes schizophrenia as being marked by a certain “Gestalt”, which is in turn recognised as a distinctive and pervasive change in an individual’s self-experience and attunement to the surrounding world, thus emphasising the subjective experience of others. In the present paper, we empirically explore the dilemma concerning the causes of social dysfunction in schizophrenia and to show how the comprehension, gained via a neuroscientific approach to a complex brain phenomenon can be meaningfully expanded by adding insights from different explanatory models. These models need to be operationalised so that all the data can be incorporated into a comprehensive statistical analysis.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3395244
The aim of the study was to examine and to compare the relationships of different personality traits, subject-specific motivational dimensions and students' achievement in math and mother tongue in general upper secondary education, as well as how these variables predict their achievement. A total of 397 students attending the first year of general upper secondary education in Slovenia participated in the study. Different measures were used to assess students' personality traits, subject-specific interest, self-efficacy, volitional strategies and final grades in math and mother tongue. The results of the research showed different patterns of achievement predictors in both subjects and differences in the predictive power of included variables according to subjects. The included variables predicted 18% of variance in the Slovene language and 31% of variance in math. In both subjects, achievement was significantly positively predicted by self-efficacy and interest, and significantly negatively predicted by energy and procrastination. In math, agreeableness was also found as a significant negative predictor, and in Slovene language conscientiousness and immediate action were found as positive predictors of students' achievement. The results can add to the understanding of the relation between cognitive control, personality and other individual characteristics.
COBISS.SI-ID: 63160162
The article presents the use of the electroencephalographic (EEG) methods in the analysis of (literary) reading. Contrary to prevalent cognitive theories, which propose that the brain works according to the principle of specialized modular processes (the so-called modular model), alternative theories supported by emerging brain imaging data presuppose the existence and simultaneous interactions of a number of different representations, supported and maintained by distributed neuronal mechanisms (the so-called activated states model). This question can also be approached by using the time-frequency analysis of EEG data, which, compared to the classic ERP analysis, allows an insight into parallel processing by dividing time course of oscillatory electrical activity of the brain into frequency bands. Individual frequency bands are considered to be important for various aspects of cognitive mechanisms, which are also the basis of language processing in reading. In this context, the most interesting rapid brain rhythms are beta and gamma and the most interesting slow rhythm is theta.
COBISS.SI-ID: 60287330