Development of an fMRI-compatible driving simulator with simultaneous measurement of physiological and kinematic signals: The multi-biosignal measurement system for driving (MMSD)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A system that comprehensively analyzes a complex perceptual-motor behavior such as driving, by measuring changes in the central and autonomic nervous systems integrated with measurement of changes in vehicle operation, is lacking. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-compatible driving simulator to enable simultaneous measurement of physiological, kinematic, and brain activations. METHODS: The system mainly comprises a driving simulator and physiological/kinematic measurement. The driving simulator comprises a steering wheel, an accelerator, a brake pedal, and a virtual-reality optical system. The physiological system comprises a skin-conductance-level and a photoplethysmographic meter. The kinematic system comprises a 3-axis accelerometer and a 2-axis gyroscope attached to the accelerator foot. To evaluate the influence of the MR system on the MMSD, physiological and kinematic signals were measured. RESULTS: The system did not blur or deform the MR image. Moreover, the main magnetic field, the gradient magnetic field, and the RF pulse of the MR system did not introduce noise into the physiological or kinematic signals. CONCLUSION: This system can enable a comprehensive evaluation of cognitively complex behaviors such as driving, by quantitatively measuring and analyzing concurrent brain activity, autonomic nervous system activity, and human movement during simulated driving.

Neuroimaging Examination of Driving Mode Switching Corresponding to Changes in the Driving Environment

“…The best approach to overcoming this limitation is to develop a device that can measure brain activity, with comparable precision to an fMRI scanner, in a real car. Because the current technology cannot offer such devices, we translated driving behaviors into possible naturalistic behaviors inside an fMRI scanner while minimizing head movements (realistic steering handle and acceleration and brake pedals manipulated in the MRI environment; Kim et al, 2020;Okamoto et al, 2020). In our simulator, the accelerator and brake pedals were replaced by hand levers while the steering wheel was replaced by a knob dial.…”

Evaluation of Effective Connectivity Between Brain Areas Activated During Simulated Driving Using Dynamic Causal Modeling

“…As shown in Figure 1A , an MR-compatible driving simulator consisting of a wheel and pedals (i.e., accelerator and brake) was used for this study ( Kim et al, 2020 ). The driving environment ( Figure 1B ), which mostly consisted of straight streets without many visual distractors, was presented using Lightrock Entertainment software.…”