Neurophysiological correlates of age differences in driving behavior during concurrent subtask performance

Abstract Driving is a complex cognitive-motor task that requires the continuous integration of multisensory information, cognitive processes, and motor actions. With higher age, driving becomes increasingly challenging as a result of naturally declining neurophysiological resources. Performing additional subtasks, such as conversations with passengers or interactions with in-vehicle devices (e.g., adjusting the radio), may further challenge neurocognitive resources that are required to maintain driving performance. As a result of declining brain physiological resources and inferior neurocognitive functioning, older adults (OA) may show higher brain activation and larger performance decrements than younger adults (YA) when engaging additional subtasks during driving. Age differences, however, may further vary for different neurocognitive task demands, such that driving performance of OA might be particularly affected by certain subtasks. In this study, we hence investigated the brain functional correlates of age differences in driving behavior during concurrent subtask performance in YA and OA. Our final sample consisted of thirty YA (21.80 ± 1.73y, 15 female) and thirty OA (69.43 ± 3.30y, 12 female) regular drivers that drove along a typical rural road (25 - 30 min) in a driving simulator and performed three different concurrent subtasks that were presented auditorily or visually: typing a 3-digit number (TYPE), comparing traffic news and gas station prices (working memory, WM), and stating arguments (ARG). We measured variability in lateral car position, velocity, and following distance to a frontal lead car as the standard deviation from 0 to 15s after subtask onset. Brain activity was continuously recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Both YA and OA particularly varied in their lateral position during TYPE with a more pronounced effect in OA. For YA, in contrast, ARG led to higher variability in velocity compared to TYPE and WM, whereas OA showed no task-specific differences. Substantiating our behavioral findings, OA revealed the largest brain functional response to TYPE, while YA demonstrated a very distinct activation during ARG with smaller hemodynamic responses to TYPE and WM. Brain activity in the DLPFC was, overall, not significantly, but small to moderately related to certain behavioral performance parameters (mainly lateral position). We conclude that both OA and YA are vulnerable to distractive subtasks while driving. Age differences, however, seem to largely depend on neurocognitive task demands. OA may be at higher risk for accidents when performing visuo-motor subtasks (e.g., interacting with navigational systems) during driving while YA are more (cognitively) distracted when talking to passengers.