Distracted driving slows emergency braking in older adults

In a driving simulator study of 44 licensed drivers, researchers compared 23 younger adults aged 19 to 25 with 21 older adults aged 65 to 74. Participants completed a car-following and lane-keeping task requiring them to prioritize braking for a lead vehicle over categorizing roadside signs. When brake lights and signs appeared simultaneously, older adults showed selective performance costs, braking more slowly and making more errors than younger adults. Older drivers also maintained a larger mean steering-wheel angle throughout the task. Concurrent electroencephalography revealed that older participants exhibited weaker preparatory control signals, larger early visual N1 amplitudes, and smaller parietal P3 responses. Time-frequency analyses showed reduced frontal theta, parietal alpha, and central beta power in older adults, reflecting altered post-stimulus attentional gating and sensorimotor tuning.