UFOV Test Found Ecologically Insensitive
A recent study by Schneider and Gouvier of the Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University found that the useful field of view test lacked ecological sensitivity among persons with mild tbi or no impairment. The author suggested that its use be limited to more severely impaired persons. Appl. Neuropsychol. 2005: 12 (3) 138-142.
In 2002, Fisk, et al in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation found that the useful field of view (UFOV) which is a measure of visual information processing was a good predictor of vehicle crash risk in older adults. In that study, the researchers looked at 23 tbi survivors and 18 young adults without neurological impairment. They found the tbi survivors had higher UFOV scores than young adults which indicated a greater functional loss of peripheral vision. The results suggested that UFOV may be a valuable instrument for assessing driving readiness in tbi survivors. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2002 Feb: 17 (1) 16-25.
Schneider and Gouvier chose to focus their study on patients with mild traumatic brain injury to ascertain the utility of the UFOV test. Unfortunately, their study found that the UFOV test was ecologically insensitive and its use, as indicated above, to be limited to survivors who were more severely impaired.