COGNITIVE-ABILITIES AND SAFETY ON THE ROAD - A REEXAMINATION OF INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN DICHOTIC-LISTENING AND SEARCH FOR EMBEDDED FIGURES

Five cognitive ability tests were administered to a sample of 153 bus-driver trainees. The embedded figures test (EFT) of Witkin (1950) and the dichotic listening test (DLT) of Gopher and Kahneman (1971) were chosen on the basis of previously reported correlations with driving accident rate. The remainder were designed to cast light on what cognitive processes the EFT and DLT measure, and hence why they should relate to driving ability. The EFT correlated only marginally with success in driver training and with accident rate in a follow-up period of two years. There was no support for the hypothesis that this test measures a general ability to resist the influence of dominant stimuli. Instead a substantial correlation (0 multiplied by (times) 64) was obtained with a typical 'intelligence' test.