EEG correlates of active visual search during simulated driving: An exploratory study

Abstract

Abstract-Brain responses to visual stimuli can provide information about visual recognition processes. Several studies have shown stimulus-dependent modulation of the evoked neural responses after gaze shifts (i.e. eye fixation related potentials, EFRP) depending on the relevance of the fixated object. However these studies are typically performed on still images under constrained conditions. Here we extend this approach to study overt visual attention during a simulated driving task. Simultaneous analysis of eye-tracking and electroencephalography data revealed similar patterns than those previously reported. However, natural visual exploration yielded shorter fixations, which imposes constraints in the analysis of the elicited brain responses. Nevertheless, we found significant differences between EFRPs corresponding to target objects or non-object stimuli. These results suggest the possibility of decoding such information during driving, allowing better understanding of how drivers process the environmental information.

Brain Correlates of Lane Changing Reaction Time in Simulated Driving

“…Concluding, the current findings complement recent studies that have identified correlates of other cognitive processes in realistic driving, including drowsiness [6], [21], [22], [23], emergency braking [9], [24], error-awareness [25], anticipation of self-motivated steering [8] and braking actions [7], as well as visual attention [26]. We purport that future driving assistive systems can exploit information derived from these signals -decoded through a brain-machine interface system-, in combination with information from in-car sensors to tailor the support they provide both to the perceived conditions of the environment as well as the internal state of the driver [27].…”

“…after 400 ms). A decrease in the beta power (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35) is also clear in these two electrodes, appearing at about 300 ms, continuing during lane change behavior. In addition, a late increase at about 500 ms can be observed in the low frequency (1-4 Hz) activity in FCz.…”

Decoding Neural Correlates of Cognitive States to Enhance Driving Experience

“…Recent works have focused on the decoding of brain correlates of visual attention processes [63]. Preliminary evidence suggests that these correlates can also be observed during driving [64], but further studies are required to validate these findings. At a certain point, the experimental paradigms would need to address the interaction of all these individual neural processes moving closer to the real-world driving scenario, where drivers are faced with dynamical and cluttered environment.…”

Examination of Driver Visual and Cognitive Responses to Billboard Elicited Passive Distraction Using Eye-Fixation Related Potential

“…These studies do not reveal the user’s eye fixation brain potential in a simulated environment. Renold et al [ 42 ] published a study measuring drivers EFRP. The study required the driver to identify target stimuli and so produced ERP signals using a primed driver.…”

“…Ahlström et al [ 41 ] discovered night driving decreases cortical responsiveness to visual stimuli using EFRP. Renold et al [ 42 ] found differences in early evoked activity between target and non-target items in a driving simulator visual research study.…”