Anatomy & Physiology: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

The Impact of Cognitive Traits, Mindful Attention, Personal States, Road Environment and various Driving Behaviors on Mind Wandering during Every Day Driving

NADIA YASEEN

Wandering of mind while performing various routine tasks has been shown to increase errors and impair task performance. In this study, the impact of selfreported mind wandering among different variables is observed according to driver’s cognitive traits (such as tendency towards mindful attention, awareness and cognitive failure), demographic characteristics (age and gender), personal states (including feeling tired, happy, relaxed or stressed) driving behavior (such as violation, aggressive violation, lapses and mistake) and road environment. Three hundred and ten participants (237 males and 73 females) completed a self-administered questionnaire ((Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) along with study specific question related to mind wandering during different personal states and road environment. The participants were selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique. Total 360 questionnaires were distributing among those participants who usually drive on long route within city after taking their consents. Out of them only 310 responses were received so the response was approx. 86%. Common reasons behind such mind wandering were found to be inattention, cognitive failure and aggressive driving behavior leading to fatal car crashes and accidents. According to results finding, almost all participants reported mind wandering during driving at least some of the time (p value < 0.005) Respondents who reported mind wandering were mostly male (mean value M=3.13, F= 2.90) and were more likely to report mind Mind wandering during everyday driving xvi NADIA YASEEN (20171-22822) wandering on familiar roads (84%). Altogether, the outcome suggests that mind wandering is a common phenomenon during every day driving. However further research can be done to get stronger relation of mind wandering with other variables. Key words: Cognitive Failure, Demographic Charact

Published Date: 2021-07-31; Received Date: 2021-07-08