School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
J Sleep Res. 2011 Sep;20(3):404-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2010.00900.x. Epub 2010 Dec 6.
Breaks are often used by drivers to counteract sleepiness and time-on-task fatigue during prolonged driving. We examined the temporal profile of changes in driving performance, electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and subjective measures of sleepiness and fatigue during prolonged nocturnal driving in a car simulator. In addition, the study examined the impact of regular breaks from driving on performance, sleepiness and fatigue. Healthy volunteers (n=12, 23-45 years) maintained a regular sleep-wake pattern for 14 days and were then in a laboratory from 21:00 to 08:30 hours. The driving simulator scene was designed to simulate monotonous night-time rural driving. Participants drove 4 × 2-h test sessions, with a break from driving of 1 h between each session. During the break participants performed tests assessing sleepiness and fatigue, and psychomotor performance (~30 mins), and then were permitted to sit quietly. They were monitored for wakefulness, and not permitted to nap or ingest caffeine. EEG was recorded during the driving task, and subjective assessments of sleepiness and fatigue were obtained at the start and completion of each session. We found that driving performance deteriorated (2.5-fold), EEG delta, theta and alpha activity increased, and subjective sleepiness and fatigue ratings increased across the testing period. Driving performance and fatigue ratings improved following the scheduled breaks from driving, while the breaks did not affect EEG activity and subjective sleepiness. Time-on-task effects increased through the testing period, indicating that these effects are exacerbated by increasing sleepiness. Breaks from driving without sleep temporarily ameliorate time-on-task fatigue, but provide little benefit to the sleepy driver.
休息通常被驾驶员用于抵消长时间驾驶过程中的困倦和任务疲劳。我们在汽车模拟器中检查了驾驶性能、脑电图 (EEG) 活动以及困倦和疲劳的主观测量值在长时间夜间驾驶过程中的时间变化特征。此外，该研究还检查了定期休息对驾驶性能、困倦和疲劳的影响。健康志愿者（n=12，23-45 岁）保持了 14 天的常规睡眠-觉醒模式，然后在实验室中从 21:00 到 08:30 小时。驾驶模拟器场景旨在模拟单调的夜间农村驾驶。参与者进行了 4 次 2 小时的测试，每次测试之间有 1 小时的驾驶休息。在休息期间，参与者进行了评估困倦和疲劳以及精神运动表现的测试（约 30 分钟），然后允许安静地坐着。他们被监测是否保持清醒，不允许小睡或摄入咖啡因。在驾驶任务期间记录 EEG，并且在每次测试开始和结束时获得困倦和疲劳的主观评估。我们发现，随着测试时间的延长，驾驶性能恶化（增加了 2.5 倍），EEG 德尔塔、θ 和α活动增加，主观困倦和疲劳评分增加。定期休息后，驾驶表现和疲劳评分得到改善，而休息对 EEG 活动和主观困倦没有影响。随着测试时间的延长，任务时间效应增加，表明这些效应会因困倦感增加而加剧。没有睡眠的驾驶休息暂时缓解了任务疲劳，但对困倦的驾驶员几乎没有益处。
