ORIGINAL PAPER Effects of Mindfulness Training on Simulated Driving: Preliminary Results Steven J. Kass & Lisa A. VanWormer & William L. Mikulas & Shauna Legan & David Bumgarner Published online: 26 July 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract Mindfulness training was examined in relation to drivers' (ages 21 to 38 years) situation awareness and performance. University students enrolled in a Buddhist psychology class were taught concentration techniques in which they were instructed to focus their attention on their breath and mindfulness techniques in which they learned to objectively notice whatever arises in consciousness. These students were to practice these techniques in their everyday activities in order to improve their mindfulness and concentration. Students enrolled in a human factors psychology course served as the control group in which they were not taught mindfulness training exercises. Students in the Buddhist psychology course scored signif- icantly highly on a scale used to assess their ability to concentrate, though differences in mindfulness between the groups were not significant. Situation awareness was assessed using a query method in a driving simulator. Mindfulness and concentration levels were both signifi- cantly related to situation awareness for driving (rs=0.80 and 0.61, respectively). Mindfulness training may greatly impact actual driving performance over time by improving drivers' awareness of their environment and enabling them to block out distractions and to quickly identify hazards. Whereas recent technological advances for improving driving safety (e.g., tactile warnings) have been studied, mental exercises for improving SA in driving have only recently been studied and warrant further research. Keywords Situation awareness . Mindfulness . Concentration . Driving Introduction In the USA, automobile accidents claim the lives of approx- imately 40,000 individuals annually (US Census Bureau 2011). In 2009, 16% of these fatalities were categorized as distracted driving incidents, which is a significant increase from the 10% of fatalities that were categorized as distracted driving incidents in 2005 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2011). This alarming trend has led to distracted driving becoming recognized as a social epidemic (US Department of Transportation 2010). While public focus appears to be on eliminating mobile phone usage as a solution to distracted driving, many researchers are also interested in any component that may contribute to driver distraction. Researchers have identified potential cognitive causes of distracted driving by investi- gating the role of attention (Baldock et al. 2007; Weaver et al. 2009), cognitive load (Forster and Lavie 2008; Horrey and Wickens 2006; Recarte and Nunes 2003), risk perception (Rhodes and Pivik 2011; Vanlaar and Yannis 2006), and situation awareness (Kass et al. 2007). This research often allows for applications that focus on improving driver attention and safety through technological devices such as haptic seat displays (Fitch et al. 2007), lane departure warnings (Jermakian 2011; Kozak et al. 2006), and adaptive cruise control (Vollrath et al. 2011). Although cognitive processing has been a main interest of driving researchers, training programs to enhance cognitive processing have mostly been studied in special- ized driving populations such as older adults (Ackerman S. J. Kass (*) : L. A. VanWormer : W. L. Mikulas : S. Legan : D. Bumgarner School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA e-mail: skass@uwf.edu Mindfulness (2011) 2:236–241 DOI 10.1007/s12671-011-0066-1