Driver Cognitive Abilities and Driving Performance

The concept of situation awareness (SA) has been
used in the analysis of driving behavior during the
past ten years. However, there has been no study
examining the relation between the three fundamental
aspects of SA (perception, comprehension and
projection) and the three types of driving behavior,
including operational, tactical and strategic
performance. The aim of this study was to develop a
more complete understanding of relationships between
driver cognitive abilities, situation awareness
(SA), and driving behaviors. Objective measures of
driver SA and performance were used to assess the
role of cognitive abilities and experience in three
types of driving tasks when using a cell phone and
encountering a hazardous situation (a vehicle
intruding into a driver s lane).