Wascher Edmund, Arnau Stefan, Reiser Julian Elias, Rudinger Georg, Karthaus Melanie, Rinkenauer G, Dreger F, Getzmann Stephan
Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany.
Society for Empirical Social Research and Evaluation (uzbonn), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Front Neurosci. 2019 Sep 4;13:940. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00940. eCollection 2019.
Film based round the ear electrodes (cEEGrids) provide both, the accessibility of unobtrusive mobile EEG as well as a rapid EEG application in stationary settings when extended measurements are not possible. In a large-scale evaluation of driving abilities of older adults (N > 350) in a realistic driving simulation, we evaluated to what extent mental demands can be measured using cEEGrids in a completely unrestricted environment. For a first frequency-based analysis, the driving scenario was subdivided into different street segments with respect to their task loads (low, medium, high) that was rated by an expert. Theta activity increased with task load but no change in Alpha power was found. Effects gained clarity after removing pink noise effects, that were potentially high in this data set due to motion artifacts. Theta fraction increased with task load and Alpha fraction decreased. We mapped this effect to specific street segments by applying a track-frequency analysis. Whilst participants drove with constant speed and without high steering wheel activity, Alpha was high and theta low. The reverse was the case in sections that required either high activity or increased attentional allocation to the driving context. When calculating mental demands for different street segments based on EEG, this measure is highly significant correlated with the experts' rating of task load. Deviances can be explained by specific features within the segments. Thus, modulations in spectral power of the EEG were validly reflected in the cEEGrids data. All findings were in line with the prominent literature in the field. The results clearly demonstrate the usability of this low-density EEG method for application in real-world settings where an increase in ecological validity might outweigh the loss of certain aspects of internal validity.
基于胶片的环绕耳部电极（cEEGrids）既具备非侵入式移动脑电图的可及性，又能在无法进行长时间测量的固定环境中实现快速脑电图应用。在一项针对老年人（N>350）在逼真驾驶模拟中的驾驶能力的大规模评估中，我们评估了在完全不受限制的环境中使用cEEGrids测量心理需求的程度。对于首次基于频率的分析，根据专家评定的任务负荷（低、中、高）将驾驶场景细分为不同的路段。θ活动随任务负荷增加，但未发现α功率有变化。去除粉色噪声影响后效果更加清晰，由于运动伪迹，该数据集中粉色噪声影响可能较高。θ分数随任务负荷增加而增加，α分数则下降。我们通过应用轨迹频率分析将这种效应映射到特定的路段。当参与者以恒定速度驾驶且方向盘活动不多时，α值高而θ值低。在需要高活动或增加对驾驶环境注意力分配的路段则情况相反。基于脑电图计算不同路段的心理需求时，该测量与专家对任务负荷的评定高度显著相关。偏差可由路段内的特定特征解释。因此，脑电图频谱功率的调制在cEEGrids数据中得到了有效反映。所有发现均与该领域的重要文献一致。结果清楚地表明了这种低密度脑电图方法在现实世界环境中的可用性，在这种环境中，生态效度的提高可能超过内部效度某些方面的损失。
