Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving
Mind wandering is a pervasive threat to transportation safety, potentially accounting for a substantial number of crashes and fatalities. In the current study, mind wandering was induced through completion of the same task for 5 days, consisting of a 20-min monotonous freeway-driving scenario, a cog...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00406/full |
| _version_ | 1818280535381770240 |
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| author | Carryl L. Baldwin Daniel M. Roberts Daniela Barragan John D. Lee Neil Lerner James S. Higgins |
| author_facet | Carryl L. Baldwin Daniel M. Roberts Daniela Barragan John D. Lee Neil Lerner James S. Higgins |
| author_sort | Carryl L. Baldwin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mind wandering is a pervasive threat to transportation safety, potentially accounting for a substantial number of crashes and fatalities. In the current study, mind wandering was induced through completion of the same task for 5 days, consisting of a 20-min monotonous freeway-driving scenario, a cognitive depletion task, and a repetition of the 20-min driving scenario driven in the reverse direction. Participants were periodically probed with auditory tones to self-report whether they were mind wandering or focused on the driving task. Self-reported mind wandering frequency was high, and did not statistically change over days of participation. For measures of driving performance, participant labeled periods of mind wandering were associated with reduced speed and reduced lane variability, in comparison to periods of on task performance. For measures of electrophysiology, periods of mind wandering were associated with increased power in the alpha band of the electroencephalogram (EEG), as well as a reduction in the magnitude of the P3a component of the event related potential (ERP) in response to the auditory probe. Results support that mind wandering has an impact on driving performance and the associated change in driver’s attentional state is detectable in underlying brain physiology. Further, results suggest that detecting the internal cognitive state of humans is possible in a continuous task such as automobile driving. Identifying periods of likely mind wandering could serve as a useful research tool for assessment of driver attention, and could potentially lead to future in-vehicle safety countermeasures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T23:50:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af543123dae54af18b2207e144e8a4ef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T23:50:46Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-af543123dae54af18b2207e144e8a4ef2022-12-22T00:06:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612017-08-011110.3389/fnhum.2017.00406277497Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated DrivingCarryl L. Baldwin0Daniel M. Roberts1Daniela Barragan2John D. Lee3Neil Lerner4James S. Higgins5Department of Psychology, George Mason UniversityFairfax, VA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, George Mason UniversityFairfax, VA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, George Mason UniversityFairfax, VA, United StatesDepartment of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-MadisonMadison, WI, United StatesCenter for Transportation, Technology and Safety Research, WestatRockville, MD, United StatesOffice of Behavioral Safety Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of TransportationWashington, DC, United StatesMind wandering is a pervasive threat to transportation safety, potentially accounting for a substantial number of crashes and fatalities. In the current study, mind wandering was induced through completion of the same task for 5 days, consisting of a 20-min monotonous freeway-driving scenario, a cognitive depletion task, and a repetition of the 20-min driving scenario driven in the reverse direction. Participants were periodically probed with auditory tones to self-report whether they were mind wandering or focused on the driving task. Self-reported mind wandering frequency was high, and did not statistically change over days of participation. For measures of driving performance, participant labeled periods of mind wandering were associated with reduced speed and reduced lane variability, in comparison to periods of on task performance. For measures of electrophysiology, periods of mind wandering were associated with increased power in the alpha band of the electroencephalogram (EEG), as well as a reduction in the magnitude of the P3a component of the event related potential (ERP) in response to the auditory probe. Results support that mind wandering has an impact on driving performance and the associated change in driver’s attentional state is detectable in underlying brain physiology. Further, results suggest that detecting the internal cognitive state of humans is possible in a continuous task such as automobile driving. Identifying periods of likely mind wandering could serve as a useful research tool for assessment of driver attention, and could potentially lead to future in-vehicle safety countermeasures.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00406/fullmind wanderinginattentiondrivingEEGalpha |
| spellingShingle | Carryl L. Baldwin Daniel M. Roberts Daniela Barragan John D. Lee Neil Lerner James S. Higgins Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving Frontiers in Human Neuroscience mind wandering inattention driving EEG alpha |
| title | Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving |
| title_full | Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving |
| title_fullStr | Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving |
| title_short | Detecting and Quantifying Mind Wandering during Simulated Driving |
| title_sort | detecting and quantifying mind wandering during simulated driving |
| topic | mind wandering inattention driving EEG alpha |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00406/full |
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