Are we born to drive?: Our brain when we drive:concentration, reaction times and mental traps

By Marco Mazzocco

Compared to a vehicle, our brain processes data at a speed of about 8 km/h (approx. 5 mi/h), even if we are driving at 130 km/h (approx. 80 mi/h). We often underestimate the complexity of the act of driving. Understanding the complex mechanisms of the human mind when driving, what happens when a stimulus reaches our brain, how long it takes to be processed and the mental traps we can fall into are some of the topics this book deals with. Using down-to-earth and practical language that directly addresses the reader, the author invites us to reflect on the mistakes that are made at the steering wheel. Mistakes which sadly, at times, prove fatal! Training the brain to be efficient when driving is nevertheless possible. This book explains how, with appropriate training, we can become more aware, careful and reliable drivers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Efficient Driving Publishing
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9788894558630

Book preview

© 2020 Efficient Driving Sas di Mazzocco Marco & C. - all rights reserved

via A. Volta, 36, 36072, Chiampo (VI), Italy

[e-mail]

www.efficientdriving.it

ISBN 978-88-945586-3-0

First edition: 2021

Editor

Giulia Reina

www.giuliareina.it

Graphic and communication design

DiBi Project di Francesca Di Bitonto

Graphic designer Giulia Marzotto

www.dibiproject.com

ePub edition edited by Cristina Ghetti

www.librinaria.it

Translation provided by

Action line Servizi Linguistici scarl

www.actionlineitaly.com

Efficient Driving holds the rights to the text, photos, graphics and illustrations in this volume.

All rights reserved by law and by international agreements.

Copying and reproducing the contents and images in any form is prohibited.

Reproduction of any kind without written authorisation, even partial, is prohibited.

A paper copy of the book is also available from the website EfficientDriving.it

First digital edition June 2021

Marco Mazzocco

Are we born to drive?

Our brain when we drive: concentration, reaction times and mental traps

Prefaces by

Leonardo Milani

Fabio Tosolin

Edited by

Giulia Reina

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logo efficient driving publishing

index

Note from the Editor Giulia Reina

Prefaces by Leonardo Milani

Prefaces by Fabio Tosolin

Introduction by Marco Mazzocco

Chapter 1 _ The senses when driving

Chapter 2 _ Eyesight and driving

Chapter 3 _ The human eye

Chapter 4 _ Perceiving the world around us: is what I see really there, or am I imagining it?

Chapter 5 _ Processing information

Chapter 6 _ Mental traps

Chapter 7 _ Selective attention

Chapter 8 _ Brain speed

Chapter 9 _ Applying Behavior Based Safety concepts to the road

Chapter 10 _ Conclusions

Introducing Efficient Driving

Meet the Efficient Driving trainers

Note from the Editor

Giulia Reina

Dear readers,

this is a book written from the soul, because it seeks to save souls, bodies and lives.

It’s a book that offers tools to save our lives and those of others when using 4-wheeled transport.

With its enjoyable and humorous style, you may feel almost spied-on when reading the detailed descriptions of certain behaviours.

For many of us, our car is a second home where we do just about everything: eating, working, providing a listening ear to friends in need of support. However, all of this diverts our attention from driving and constitutes often fatal distractions.

Driving is a real joy. The 4-wheeled vehicle is one of the greatest inventions. All of us carry at least one precious memory in our hearts from being in a car.

We use cars to transport food, life-saving medication, and lives that are hanging in the balance to healthcare centres.

We use cars to transport our loved ones and the people we hold dear. Often, it’s not even the destination that’s important, but the delight of sitting in a comfortable, cushy environment where you can admire an ever-changing landscape.

This is the Istat data from 2019 on road accidents in Italy: 172,183 accidents with injuries to people, with 3173 fatalities (people who died within 30 days of the incident) and 241,384 injured, often as a result of fatal distractions.

This presents a dramatic picture of lives changed and lives ended.

This is why driving well (that is, safely) is so important, because on the road you’ll encounter all these people with lives full of dreams, projects to complete, smiling children to come home to.

The book is enriched with prefaces from Doctor Leonardo Milani, a psychologist and mental trainer from the Pattuglia Acrobatica Italiana, Frecce Tricolori (National Aerobatic Team, Frecce Tricolori) and from Professor Fabio Tosolin, President of AARBA (Association for the Advancement of Radical Behavior Analysis) and AIAMC (Associazione Italiana di Analisi e Modificazione del Comportamento, Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification), Italy’s scientific behaviour analysis groups. All of the Efficient Driving team train with these experts, taking advantage of the information provided by their courses, which is of exceptional scientific quality.

This is a book written from the soul, as everyone in the team shares their experiences, talks about the passion they have for their work and how much they’ve learned from the life stories of the people they’ve met.

Happy reading and happy driving.

Preface by

Leonardo Milani

psychologist and mental trainer

at Pattuglia Acrobatica Italiana, Frecce Tricolori

Applied psychology and driving a motor vehicle might seem like two subjects which are worlds apart.

In actual fact, every time we use a vehicle our brain engages in some steps which are crucial for managing itself and the surrounding, moving environment. These steps are linked to high-performance, i.e. how we act in complex or competitive situations.

Concentration, focussed and total attention, balanced movement and posture, dealing with potentially dangerous or emergency situations, and most importantly a balanced assessment of ourselves in relation to the dynamic events unfolding before our eyes: all of these elements are inextricably linked to the skills that our brain develops over the course of our whole life.

The level of complexity involved in driving, as well as motor vehicle traffic and speed, makes the ability to drive a prime subject in applied psychology.

The brain can be trained to deal with dangerous situations.

Our concentration and ability to focus can be stimulated and exercised using specially designed training.

This down-to-earth, practical publication highlights the links between driving and applied psychology. It clearly demonstrates our ability to train our brain and be effective, efficient drivers of motor vehicles.

It shows that tools exist (thanks to the latest discoveries in neuroscience and the study of perception) which can make a difference when we are driving, providing optimal conditions for each individual to ensure they drive safely.

Specifically, undertaking perception exercises and inserting anticipatory films (in connection with the behaviour strategies taught by Efficient Driving) can help everyone understand how to deal with their own visual and postural tendencies, orienting them towards safety and peace of mind.

In 1971, Piaget and Inhelder published their distinction between reproductive images (evoking recognisable objects, situations or events) and anticipatory images (representing images constructed purely in the mind). They claimed that visual images serve as a starting point for implementing thoughts evoked by verbal symbols. That is, visual images are the keystone for such implementation.

The most interesting thing I gleaned from this publication is the fact that everyone, if equipped with the right tools, can radically overcome even their most subtle fears, fears which are common for those starting off on a new path of knowledge. This also goes for people who consider themselves experts. They too can sharpen their operational excellence by using small but significant tricks from a constantly evolving technological world.

Preface by

Fabio Tosolin

President of AARBA (Association for the Advancement of Radical Behavior Analysis) and AIAMC (Italian Association for Behaviour Analysis and Modification)

Foreword

As early as the 1960s, Gianni Mazzocchi, legendary founder of Quattroruote magazine, defined the individual vehicle as a great tool for freedom. Freedom from timetables, route restrictions, complying with the obligatory (and often unwelcome) public transport rules, as is the case with trains. However, even trains need to be controlled by drivers who have been trained with science-based methods, in order to avoid the disasters we so often hear about in the news.

In vehicles where we are not the main ones in control