Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG
Driving safety strongly depends on the driver's mental states and attention to the driving situation. Previous studies demonstrate a clear relationship between EEG measures and mental states, such as alertness and drowsiness, but often only map their mental state for a longer period of time. In...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023051125 |
| _version_ | 1797771474150359040 |
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| author | Edmund Wascher Emad Alyan Melanie Karthaus Stephan Getzmann Stefan Arnau Julian Elias Reiser |
| author_facet | Edmund Wascher Emad Alyan Melanie Karthaus Stephan Getzmann Stefan Arnau Julian Elias Reiser |
| author_sort | Edmund Wascher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Driving safety strongly depends on the driver's mental states and attention to the driving situation. Previous studies demonstrate a clear relationship between EEG measures and mental states, such as alertness and drowsiness, but often only map their mental state for a longer period of time. In this driving simulation study, we exploit the high temporal resolution of the EEG to capture fine-grained modulations in cognitive processes occurring before and after eye activity in the form of saccades, fixations, and eye blinks. A total of 15 subjects drove through an approximately 50-km course consisting of highway, country road, and urban passages. Based on the ratio of brain oscillatory alpha and theta activity, the total distance was classified into 10-m-long sections with low, medium, and high task loads. Blink-evoked and fixation-evoked event-related potentials, spectral perturbations, and lateralizations were analyzed as neuro-cognitive correlates of cognition and attention. Depending on EEG-based estimation of task load, these measures showed distinct patterns associated with driving behavior parameters such as speed and steering acceleration and represent a temporally highly resolved image of specific cognitive processes during driving. In future applications, combinations of these EEG measures could form the basis for driver warning systems which increase overall driving safety by considering rapid fluctuations in driver's attention and mental states. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:37:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-10b9965388e1490db1738b7e9aa008f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T21:37:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-10b9965388e1490db1738b7e9aa008f82023-07-27T05:57:52ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402023-07-0197e17904Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEGEdmund Wascher0Emad Alyan1Melanie Karthaus2Stephan Getzmann3Stefan Arnau4Julian Elias Reiser5Corresponding author. IfADo – Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors Ardeystr. 67 D-44139 Dortmund Germany.; IfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyIfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyIfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyIfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyIfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyIfADo - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, GermanyDriving safety strongly depends on the driver's mental states and attention to the driving situation. Previous studies demonstrate a clear relationship between EEG measures and mental states, such as alertness and drowsiness, but often only map their mental state for a longer period of time. In this driving simulation study, we exploit the high temporal resolution of the EEG to capture fine-grained modulations in cognitive processes occurring before and after eye activity in the form of saccades, fixations, and eye blinks. A total of 15 subjects drove through an approximately 50-km course consisting of highway, country road, and urban passages. Based on the ratio of brain oscillatory alpha and theta activity, the total distance was classified into 10-m-long sections with low, medium, and high task loads. Blink-evoked and fixation-evoked event-related potentials, spectral perturbations, and lateralizations were analyzed as neuro-cognitive correlates of cognition and attention. Depending on EEG-based estimation of task load, these measures showed distinct patterns associated with driving behavior parameters such as speed and steering acceleration and represent a temporally highly resolved image of specific cognitive processes during driving. In future applications, combinations of these EEG measures could form the basis for driver warning systems which increase overall driving safety by considering rapid fluctuations in driver's attention and mental states.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023051125DrivingMental loadEEGEye movements |
| spellingShingle | Edmund Wascher Emad Alyan Melanie Karthaus Stephan Getzmann Stefan Arnau Julian Elias Reiser Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG Heliyon Driving Mental load EEG Eye movements |
| title | Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG |
| title_full | Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG |
| title_fullStr | Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG |
| title_short | Tracking drivers’ minds: Continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the EEG |
| title_sort | tracking drivers minds continuous evaluation of mental load and cognitive processing in a realistic driving simulator scenario by means of the eeg |
| topic | Driving Mental load EEG Eye movements |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023051125 |
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