Abstract
Understanding the effect of aging on brain efficiency and executive functions is important for high risk activities such as general aviation. In this study, ten private pilots in the age group 19–25 and ten in the 52–72 range completed the spatial working memory (SWM) and spatial planning and reasoning (One Touch Stockings, OTS) from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. The change in deoxygenated and oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) was measured. Younger pilots were found to be more efficient in the SWM task than the older group, with a smaller change in HbO2 and greater performance gain. However, aging has no significant effect on the OTS task efficiency, with both groups performing equally well. Analysis also suggests that there may be an effect on change in HbO2 due to flight hours.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Shao, B.S., Guindani, M., Boyd, D.D.: Fatal accident rates for instrument-rated private pilots. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 85, 631–637 (2014)
Taylor, J., Kennedy, Q., Noda, A., Yesavage, J.: Pilot age and expertise predict flight simulator performance: a 3-year longitudinal study. Neurology 68, 648 (2007)
Causse, M., Dehais, F., Arexis, M., Pastor, J.: Cognitive aging and flight performances in general aviation pilots. Aging, Neuropsychol. Cogn. 18, 544–561 (2011)
Causse, M., Dehais, F., Pastor, J.: Executive functions and pilot characteristics predict flight simulator performance in general aviation pilots. Int. J. Aviat. Psychol. 21, 217–234 (2011)
Fabiani, M.: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: a psycho-physiologist’s view of cognitive aging. Psychophysiology 49(3), 283–304 (2012)
Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., Park, D. (eds.): Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging: Linking Cognitive and Cerebral Aging. Oxford University Press (2004)
Bazargan, M., Guzhva, V.S.: Impact of gender, age and experience of pi-lots on general aviation accidents. Accid. Anal. Prev. 43(3), 962–970 (2011)
Hardy, D.J., Parasuraman, R.: Cognition and flight performance in older pilots. J. Exp. Psychol.: Appl. 3(4), 313 (1997)
Turner, G.R., Spreng, R.N.: Executive functions and neurocognitive aging: dissociable patterns of brain activity. Neurobiol. Aging 33, 821–826 (2012)
Yuan, P., Raz, N.: Prefrontal cortex and executive functions in healthy adults: a meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 42, 180–192 (2014)
Rhodes, M.G.: Age-related differences in performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: a meta-analytic review. Psychol. Aging 19, 482–494 (2004)
Fishburn, F.A., Norr, M.E., Medvedev, A.V., Vaidya, C.J.: Sensitivity of fNIRS to cognitive state and load. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8 (2014)
Ayaz, H., Shewokis, P.A., Bunce, S., Izzetoglu, K., Willems, B., Onaral, B.: Optical brain monitoring for operator training and mental workload assessment. Neuroimage 59(1), 36–47 (2012)
Basso, D., Lotze, M., Vitale, L., Ferreri, F., Bisiacchi, P., Belardinelli, M.O., Rossini, P.M., Birbaumer, N.: The role of prefrontal cortex in visuo-spatial planning: a repetitive TMS study. Exp. Brain Res. 171(3), 411–415 (2006)
Robbins, T.W., James, M., Owen, A.M., Sahakian, B.J., McInnes, M., Rabbitt, P.: A neural systems approach to the cognitive psychology of ageing using the CANTAB battery. In: Rabbit, P. (ed.) Methodology of Frontal and Executive Function. pp. 208-231. Psychology Press Ltd, ISBN 0-203-34418-9 (2005)
CANTABeclipseTM Test Administration Guide. Manual Version 5.0.0. Cambridge Cognition, Ltd (2012)
Roche-Labarbe, N., Zaaimi, B., Berquin, P., Nehlig, A., Grebe, R., Wallois, F.: NIRS-measured oxy-and deoxyhemoglobin changes associated with EEG spike-and-wave discharges in children. Epilepsia 49(11), 1871–1880 (2008)
Maidan, I., Bernad-Elazari, H., Gazit, E., Giladi, N., Hausdorff, J.M., Mirelman, A.: Changes in oxygenated hemoglobin link freezing of gait to frontal activation in patients with Parkinson disease: an fNIRS study of transient motor-cognitive failures. J. Neurol. 262(4), 899–908 (2015)
Miyai, I., Tanabe, H.C., Sase, I., Eda, H., Oda, I., Konishi, I., Tsunazawa, Y., Suzuki, T., Yanagida, T., Kubota, K.: Cortical mapping of gait in humans: a near-infrared spectroscopic topography study. Neuroimage 14(5), 1186–1192 (2001)
Wagner, G., Koch, K., Reichenbach, J.R., Sauer, H., Schlösser, R.G.: The special involvement of the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex in planning abilities: an event-related fMRI study with the Tower of London paradigm. Neuropsychologia 44(12), 2337–2347 (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Chua, Z., Causse, M. (2017). Aging Effects on Brain Efficiency in General Aviation Pilots. In: Hale, K., Stanney, K. (eds) Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 488. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41691-5_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41691-5_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41690-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41691-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)