Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors often have sensory and cognitive impairments that may interfere with driving ability. The Useful Field of View (UFOV) is a measure of visual information processing that is a good predictor of vehicle crash risk in older adults.
The objective of this study was to explore the possibility that UFOV is compromised after TBI.
UFOV performance of 23 TBI survivors and 18 young adults without neurological impairment were compared.
TBI survivors had higher UFOV scores than young adults, which indicated a greater functional loss of peripheral vision. The results suggest that the UFOV may be a valuable instrument for assessing driving readiness in TBI survivors.
Department of Psychology and Sociology, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, Georgia (Fisk)
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama (Novack)
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama (Mennemeier)
Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky (Roenker)
Address correspondence and requests for reprints to Gary D. Fisk, Georgia Southwestern State University, Department of Psychology and Sociology, 800 Wheatley Street, Americus, GA 31709. Telephone: (229) 931-2296. E-mail: gdf@canes.gsw.edu.
Supported by an NRSA training grant (HD07420-06).
