Simulated and self-reported driving among young adults with and without prenatal cocaine exposure

Abstract

Objective: This exploratory study aimed to examine associations between executive function and simulated and self-reported driving behavior among young adults with and without a history of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE).

Methods: Young adult drivers with PCE (n = 38) and with no drug exposure (NDE; n = 25) were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort study assessing effects of PCE on development (Mean age = 23.7; 60.3% male; 61.9% with a valid U.S. driver’s license, 38.1% report independent driving without a license). Participants completed executive function tasks (i.e., the Stop Signal Task and Groton Maze Learning Task) and self-reported driving measures (i.e., Checkpoints Risky Driving Scale (C-RDS)) outside the cab. Average stop signal reaction time(s) measured inhibitory control, number of exploratory errors measured visuo-spatial working memory, and the total C-RDS score measured self-reported risky driving. Participants completed a high-fidelity driving simulation scenario in a miniSim™ ½ cab National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) that yielded indicators of driving performance shown in previous research to correlate with inhibitory control (e.g., average speed, standard deviation lane position (SDLP)) and working memory (minimum headway time, lane departures). Multivariate linear regression models tested whether PCE status, licensure status and executive function measures were associated with simulated driving measures or C-RDS, controlling for sex.

Results: Multivariate regression models demonstrated inhibitory control, working memory and PCE group status was not significantly associated with driving outcomes. Licensure was significantly associated with total lane departures (β = −0.66, SE = 0.19; p < 0.01) and C-RDS (β = 5.86, SE = 1.4; p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions: This exploratory study suggests that young adults with PCE have similar neurocognitive performance and driving behaviors as their non-drug exposed (NDE) peers. These findings add to the growing literature demonstrating that the effect of PCE on cognitive functions in childhood may not persist to young adulthood. Further research with similar groups of young drivers in a naturalistic driving context (i.e., instrumented vehicles) is needed to more definitively translate and confirm our findings.

Keywords:

• Driving prenatal cocaine exposure
• working memory
• inhibitory control

Acknowledgements

We thank Cody Bartz and Kathy Armstrong for their assistance with data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was made possible by CTSA Grant Number UL1 TR001863 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This publication was also supported, in part, by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Grant Number R01AA026313. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The funders had no role in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the abstract; or in the decision to submit the study for publication.