Study on Cognitive Function Tests atResident’ Health Checks and Accelerator
Pedal and Brake Pedal Misapplication
Takahiko Kimura, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Kansai
University of Welfare Sciences
Kazumitsu Shinohara, School of Human Sciences,
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

Takeshi Hatta, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Kansai
University of Welfare Sciences
This document is based on the following research presentation.
“A Population-Based Study on the Possible Factors in Pedal Misapplication” by Takahiko Kimura, Kazumitsu Shinohara,and Takeshi Hatta (2017)2017 JSAE Congress (Autumn) Technical Paper Presentation Proceedings, 470-474
https://www.bookpark.ne.jp/cm/jsae/select.asp?pageno=25&pagenum=10&category=103&lang=J&table=JSAPOverview of This Study☞ Organized collection of data at local residents’ health checks☞ Survey on daily living, driving, and cognitive functions☞ Results• Differences not observed in attention focusing, memory performance, andspatial cognition.
• In the Stroop Task, in which inhibition function is involved, the group having
experience in pedal misapplication can execute the task faster.
☞ As approaches from both the physical and cognitive aspects are importantin preventing accidents and clarifying the factors for accelerating and braking,we plan to continue carefully examining and studying the details of the survey.

Awareness of the Issue (1): Age andMisapplication
MenRatio

Women

Age of the party of the first part

(Obtained from ITARDA)

Accidents due to pedal misapplication have increased among both men andwomen aged 65 or older.

Awareness of the Issue (2): Attention
to Residents’ Health Checks☞ Data can be collected systematically from multiple perspectives• Traffic accidents often occur during routine movements in suchplaces routes and parking lots in the local community.
• It is possible to collect data efficiently from subjects living in thesame area with similar livelihood bases.
☞ Examine the causes of occurrence of accidents due toaccelerator/brake pedal misapplication

Description of Collected Data
☞ Daily life questionnaire sheet
Psychological matters such as the level of happiness or sentiments☞ Matters related to the driving of automobiles
Frequency of driving, level of confidence about driving, position of
the heel when stepping on the brake pedal, presence/absence ofexperience in accelerator/brake pedal misapplication, level of risk if
there is such experience, and level of confidence in one’s athletic
ability☞ Frequency of falling down related to maintenance of motor
functions☞ Cognitive functions (based on Hatta, 2004, etc.)
Memory, mental rotation, executive functions, and attentional
functions

Results☞ With experience in pedal misapplication: 37 people (18 men, 19women, average age of 60.16, SD = 9.80)☞ With no experience in pedal misapplication: 360 people (191men, 169 women, average age 62.04, SD = 9.56)☞ Regardless of the presence or absence of experience in pedal
misapplication, more than 80% of the subjects replied inconnection with the frequency of their driving that they “drive everyday.”↓
Driving on a daily basis in the local community

Results: Level of confidence in driving
Haveconfidence

Moderatelyconfident

NormalNot much

NoneWith experience inpedal misapplication

0.08

0.16

0.62

0.11

0.03

With no experiencein pedalmisapplication

0.23

0.15

0.55

0.070.01

No answer

0.00278

In the group with experience in pedal misapplication, there tended tobe more people whose self-assessment was lower than a “high”
level of confidence compared to those in the group with noexperience in pedal misapplication.

Results: Level of confidence in athletic ability
Haveconfidence

Moderately
confident

NormalNot much

None

No answer

With experience inpedal misapplication

0.05

0.11

0.68

0.14

0.030.00

With no experiencein pedalmisapplication

0.13

0.17

0.58

0.09

0.02

0.02

In the group with no experience in pedal misapplication, there wasdistribution toward a high level of confidence concerning the level ofconfidence in athletic ability compared to the group with experiencein pedal misapplication.

Results: Experience in falling down
NeverOnce

Twice ormore

No answer

With experience inpedal misapplication

0.76

0.14

0.05

0.08

With no experiencein pedalmisapplication

0.85

0.09

0.04

0.02

In the group with experience in pedal misapplication, there tended
to be more people who have fallen down once or more times.
☞ Taken in consideration together with the level of confidence inathletic ability, there is a possibility of the occurrence of pedal
misapplication in the case where self-assessment of athletic
ability is low and the risk of falling down is high.

Results: Memory and spatial cognition
Number of reproduction ofprosaic accounting (number)

Mental rotation (number ofcorrect answers)

With experience in pedal
misapplication

14.85

11.04

With no experience inpedal misapplication

13.89

10.48

No differences were observed in memory functions(reproduction task) and spatial cognition (mental rotation task)
regardless of the presence or absence of experience in pedal
misapplication.

With experience in pedal
misapplication
With no experience inpedal misapplication

Dot

Character/word

Number of errors

Task execution timeResults: Inhibition task
With experience in pedal
misapplication
With no experience inpedal misapplication

Dot

Character/word

Those in the group with experience in pedal misapplication were significantly faster solely
with regard to the execution time for the character/word task compared to those in the groupwith no experience in pedal misapplication [t(47.91)=2.79, p<.008]．

☞In connection with previous studies (Kimura and Shinohara, 2017), there is a possibility
that the tendency of impulsive behaviour is associated with this, thus requiring furtherconsideration.

Summary of Results(1) Subjective evaluation concerning driving of automobiles and athletic
ability
It was indicated that those in the group with experience in pedal
misapplication scored relatively lower.
(2) Risk of falling down
Tendency to be higher for those with experience in pedal misapplication.
(3) Cognitive functions
Differences not observed in attention focusing, memory performance, andspatial cognition.
In the Stroop Task, in which inhibition function is involved, the grouphaving experience in pedal misapplication were able to execute the taskfaster.

Discussion
Matters necessary for the studying factors causing occurrence ofpedal misapplication☞ Evaluation of one’s basic physical functions such as motor
functions and the meta cognition that is involved in the executionof those functions (how one is grasping this).
☞ Using cognitive functions, especially inhibition functions, as anindex is effective (Kimura & Shinohara, 2012; Shinohara et al.,2012)
Studying both the aspect of motor functions and the aspect ofcognitive functions is important for clarifying the factors for pedal
misapplication.

Future research(1) Importance of studying both the aspect of motor functions andthe aspect of cognitive functions for clarifying the factors for pedal
misapplication.
(2) Development of easy and simple method for extracting drivers
who possess potential accident factors through group screenings
such as residents’ health checks