Specific attention disorders in drivers with traumatic brain injury

To highlight the impact of the increasing attentional load on performance of both normal drivers and drivers with traumatic brain injury.

Patients with brain injury have a higher accident risk than people with no brain injury [1], probably as a result of persistent attention disorders.

Ten patients and 10 paired controls took part in a computerized selective attention task involving specific attentional processes. They were asked to monitor a speedometer and to ignore sudden changes in the surrounding environment in three separate experimental situations involving different attentional load.

Although, in the control situation, patients' results were equivalent to controls', they displayed specific disorders in more complex situations where the attentional load increased.

These difficulties may have a negative impact on real driving situations.