The Effect of Aging on Decision-Making While Driving: A Diffusion Model Analysis

Roger Ratcliff, Yonatan Vanunu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present a diffusion model analysis of the effect of aging on decision processes during driving. Our goal was to examine the changes in the underlying components as a function of age and both task and environment difficulty. Younger and older adults performed each of three decision-making tasks while operating a computer-based driving simulator in which the task required a driving action. The first task was a one-choice task in which the response to brake lights turning on was to drive around a lead car. The second and third tasks were two-choice brightness-discrimination tasks in which participants were asked to drive the car to the left/right if there were more black/white pixels in an array of black and white pixels. Results showed that older adults were slower in the one-choice task and made more errors in the two-choice tasks than younger adults. The behavioral data were fitted well by one and two-choice diffusion models, showing lower evidence accumulation rates (drift rates) in older than younger adults. Moreover, in the two-choice tasks under higher environmental demands, older adults showed a lower decision criterion (boundary separation) to compensate for a slower decision process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)441-455
Number of pages15
JournalPsychology and Aging
Volume37
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 May 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Decision-making
  • Diffusion modeling
  • Driving
  • Reaction time

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology
  • Ageing
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology

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