Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42074758›Full record

ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2026

Neurophysiological Characteristics Associated with Driving Abilities in Older Adults: A Scoping Review.

Mutsuhide Tanaka, Yuma Hidaka, Futoshi Mori

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Mutsuhide TanakaDepartment of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Mihara-shi 723-0053, Hiroshima, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-4143-0819
Yuma HidakaDoctoral Program of Clinical Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Health Science, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima-shi 890-8544, Kagoshima, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-8066-5771
Futoshi MoriDepartment of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Mihara-shi 723-0053, Hiroshima, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

With population aging, motor vehicle accidents involving older drivers have increased. Age-related cognitive decline affects driving performance; however, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This scoping review explored neurophysiological characteristics associated with driving in older adults, including those at risk of dementia. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL for studies examining driving-related neurophysiological measures in older adults aged ≥60 years. Twelve studies were included. Findings converge on load-dependent neural compensation failure: older adults maintain driving performance under low-to-moderate demands, but compensatory mechanisms break down under high cognitive load. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies revealed blunted midfrontal theta upregulation during high-load conditions, associated with reduced steering precision and delayed responses. Event-related potential studies demonstrated that reduced P3b amplitude was associated with missed braking responses and that abnormal visual evoked potentials in Alzheimer's disease predicted unfit-to-drive classifications. fNIRS studies during driving-related tasks and an fMRI study using a laboratory-based visual task consistently showed prefrontal hyperactivation in older adults. Although some older adults maintained comparable performance to younger adults, the brain-behavior associations observed in younger adults were absent, suggesting that this hyperactivation does not necessarily serve a functional compensatory role. Combined with EEG evidence of impaired oscillatory modulation, these findings suggest that prefrontal hyperactivation does not necessarily compensate for diminished neural synchronization under high-load conditions. Neurophysiological markers hold promise for fitness-to-drive assessments. Future research should employ high-load scenarios and multimodal neuroimaging to verify prefrontal compensatory mechanisms.

Indexed as

cognitive declinedriving abilitydriving simulatorelectroencephalographyevent-related potentialsfitness-to-drive assessmentmidfrontal thetaneurophysiologyolder adultsprefrontal cortex

Identifiers

PMID42074758
PMCPMC13115837

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.