Cognitive abilities and safety on the road: a re-examination of individual differences in dichotic listening and search for embedded figures

摘要

Five cognitive ability tests were administered to a sample of 153 bus-driver trainees. The embedded figures test (EFT) of Witkin (1950) and the dichotic listening test (DLT) of Gopher and Kahneman (1971) were chosen on the basis of previously reported correlations with driving accident rate. The remainder were designed to cast light on what cognitive processes the EFT and DLT measure, and hence why they should relate to driving ability. The EFT correlated only marginally with success in driver training and with accident rate in a follow-up period of two years. There was no support for the hypothesis that this test measures a general ability to resist the influence of dominant stimuli. Instead a substantial correlation (0#xB7;64) was obtained with a typical #x2018;intelligence#x2019; test. The DLT showed no correlations with driver performance measures, thus failing to replicate earlier findings. There was no support for the hypothesis that this test measures a general ability to switch from one task or mental set to another. We suggest that analysis of the cognitive processes of driving cannot be based on overall measures such as accident rate. Instead, the task must be studied at the level of component skills.