Citation

Pope CN, Stavrinos D, Vance DE, Woods AJ, Bell TR, Ball KK, Fazeli PL. Transp. Res. F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 2018; 58: 1061-1073.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trf.2018.08.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cognitive impairments seen in people living with HIV (PLWH) are associated with difficulties in everyday functioning, specifically driving. This study utilized speed of processing cognitive remediation therapy (SOP-CRT) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to gauge the feasibility and impact on simulated driving. Thirty PLWH (Mage = 54.53, SD = 3.33) were randomly assigned to either: sham tDCS SOP-CRT or active tDCS SOP-CRT. Seven indicators of simulated driving performance and safety were obtained. Repeated measures ANOVAs controlling for driver's license status (valid and current license or expired/no license) revealed a large training effect on average driving speed. Participants who received active tDCS SOP-CRT showed a slower average driving speed (p = 0.020, d = 0.972) than those who received sham tDCS SOP-CRT. Non-significant small-to-medium effects were seen for driving violations, collisions, variability in lane positioning, and lane deviations. Combination tDCS SOP-CRT was found to increase indices of cautionary simulated driving behavior.

FINDINGS reveal a potential avenue of intervention and rehabilitation for improving driving safety among vulnerable at-risk populations, such as those aging with chronic disease.

Keywords

Brain simulation; Cognitive remediation therapy; Driving; HIV/AIDS; Neuromodulation; tDCS