Elucidation of the mechanism of dangerous driving behaviors of elderly drivers by positivity effect

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16H07334
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Social psychology
Research Institution	Doshisha University
Principal Investigator	Kimura Toshiaki 同志社大学, 研究開発推進機構, 助手 (40780359)
Research Collaborator	MATSUURA Naomi RENGE Kazumi SUZUKI Naoto
Project Period (FY)	2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Keywords	ポジティビティ・エフェクト / 高齢者 / 運転行動 / 前頭葉 / 近赤外分光法 / 交通 / NIRS / 注意 / 交通事故 / 神経科学 / 脳・神経 / 社会系心理学 / 感情 / 漢字 / 感情ストロープ課題
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In a series of studies, positive effects were shown in part of the reaction time results at the cognitive stage, but the effect of negativity bias was shown at the decision stage like young people.Therefore, it was revealed that the positive effect in the elderly occurs in the cognitive stage. From the viewpoint of the PFC activity, the blood flow increased with negative stimuli. Negative emotions that occurred in the limbic system including amygdala can be suppressed by activating the prefrontal cortex(Ochsner, et al., 2002). Therefore , it was revealed that positivity effect arises by suppressing discomfort for the elderly.