Mader Mandy, Bresges André, Topal Reyhan, Busse Alexander, Forsting Michael, Gizewski Elke R
Dept. of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Hufelandstr. 55, D-45127 Essen, Germany.
Neurosci Lett. 2009 Oct 30;464(3):222-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.08.056. Epub 2009 Aug 28.
Understanding the neuronal underpinnings of cognitive processes during car driving is essential to understanding the origin of automobile accidents. Using fMRI we aimed to reveal differences in activation distribution contrasting passively observing an unfamiliar versus a familiar route to analyse the importance of the degree of familiarity of a route on attention process. We developed a special driving simulation software known as "Mechanics & Traffic", which focuses on the physical properties of driving. Sixteen male police-academy students with special driving training were examined while passively watching the car on an unfamiliar route, following a training-period outside the scanner, and passively watching the car on the now familiar route. The driving task revealed activations in frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital lobes, the thalamus, and cerebellum. Direct comparison revealed significant activation for the unfamiliar route in the middle temporal and occipital cortex and in the cerebellum. Correlating activations with the influencing covariates of driving experience, the activation pattern was confirmed and an additional activation for the unfamiliar route was found in the inferior frontal and parahippocampal gyrus. The results give further evidence that driving a car is a complex cognitive skill. A training-period and a familiar, monotonous route seem to lead to a reduction in attention and perception processes which might be associated with a danger for commuters, even in specially trained drivers.
了解汽车驾驶过程中认知过程的神经基础对于理解汽车事故的成因至关重要。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）旨在揭示激活分布的差异，对比被动观察不熟悉的路线与熟悉的路线，以分析路线熟悉程度对注意力过程的重要性。我们开发了一款名为“Mechanics & Traffic”的特殊驾驶模拟软件，该软件专注于驾驶的物理特性。在扫描仪外进行一段训练期后，16名接受过特殊驾驶训练的男性警校学生在被动观看汽车行驶在不熟悉的路线上、之后又被动观看汽车行驶在现在熟悉的路线上时接受了检查。驾驶任务显示额叶、顶叶、颞叶、枕叶、丘脑和小脑有激活。直接比较显示，在颞中回和枕叶皮质以及小脑中，不熟悉的路线有显著激活。将激活与驾驶经验的影响协变量进行关联，证实了激活模式，并在额下回和海马旁回发现了不熟悉路线的额外激活。结果进一步证明驾驶汽车是一项复杂的认知技能。一段训练期以及一条熟悉、单调的路线似乎会导致注意力和感知过程的减少，这可能对通勤者构成危险，即使是经过特殊训练的司机。
