2010 BC Guide in Determining Fitness to Drive

efers to those capabilities that enable an individual to successfullyengage in independent, purposeful, and self-serving behaviours.Disturbances in executive functioning are characterized by disturbedattention, increased distractibility, deficits in self-awareness, andpreservative behaviour.Central executive functioning (see also executive functioning above)refers to that part of working memory that is responsible for‘supervising’ many cognitive processes including encoding (inputtinginformation from the external world), storing information in memory,and retrieving information from memory.central executive (CE) functioning includes abilities such as planningand organization, reasoning and problem solving, conceptual thought,and decision making. CE functioning is critical for the successfulcompletion of tasks that involve planning or decision making and thatare complex in natureExample: making a left turn at an uncontrolled intersection.Visual information processingdefined as the processing of visual information beyond the perceptuallevel (e.g., recognizing and identifying objects and decision makingrelated to those objects).visual information processing involves higher order cognitiveprocessing. However, because of the visual component, references tovisual information processing often are included within the visualdomain.Research indicates that individuals with progressive or irreversibledeclines in cognitive function cannot compensate for their cognitiveimpairment.20