Effects of Chronic Stress and Acute Stress on Driving Performance

The current study examines whether chronic stress due to spousal caregiving, compounded by acute stress, affects driving performance. Ten spousal caregivers completed the 12-item Zarit Burden Interview to assess caregiver burden level. Acute stress was manipulated by having participants complete the Trier Social Stress Test or a control task. Participants then used a driving simulator to complete a car-following (CF) task alone or concurrently with either a divided attention (DA) task, a backward counting (BC) task, or both. They also performed the DA task while driving without car-following requirements. Car-following measures, such as modulus and delay, and vehicle control measures such as standard deviation of lateral position were recorded. Participants also completed the Attention Network Task and the Useful Field of View (UFOV) task. Results indicated that caregiver burden level and acute stress did not degrade driving performance.