Behavioural and Social Neuroscience Research Group, Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Department of Psychology, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2020 Apr 29;15(4):e0232222. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232222. eCollection 2020.
An alarming number of traffic-related deaths occur each year on European roads alone. Figures reveal that the vast majority of road-traffic accidents are caused by drivers themselves, and so further improvements in road safety require developments in driver training and rehabilitation. This study evaluated a novel approach to driver rehabilitation-specifically, empathy induction as a means of changing attitudes towards risky driving. To assess the effectiveness of this method, the present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain function before and after a short program of empathy induction in 27 drivers whose licenses had been revoked after serious traffic offences (rehabilitated drivers [RDs]). In an extension of our previous research, we first assessed whether neural responses to empathy-eliciting social stimuli changed in these RDs. In order to isolate the neurophysiological effects of empathy induction from any other potential influences, we compared these RDs to a sample of 27 age-, handedness- and driving experience-matched control drivers (CDs) who had no exposure to the program. We then performed dual-fMRI "hyperscanning" to evaluate whether empathy induction changed brain responses during real-world social interactions among drivers; namely, during co-operative and/or competitive exchanges. Our data reveal that RDs exhibited weaker brain responses to socio-emotional stimuli compared with CDs prior to the program, but this difference was reversed after empathy induction. Moreover, we observed differences between pre- and post-program assessments in patterns of brain responses in RDs elicited during competitive social exchanges, which we interpret to reflect a change in their proclivity to react to the perceived wrong-doing of other road users. Together, these findings suggest that empathy induction is an effective form of driver rehabilitation, and the utility of neuroscientific techniques for evaluating and improving rehabilitation programs.
仅在欧洲道路上，每年就有大量与交通相关的死亡事件发生。数据显示，绝大多数道路交通事故是由驾驶员自身造成的，因此进一步提高道路安全需要改进驾驶员培训和康复。本研究评估了一种新的驾驶员康复方法，具体来说，就是将同理心诱导作为改变危险驾驶态度的一种手段。为了评估这种方法的有效性，本研究采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）比较了 27 名因严重交通违章而被吊销执照的驾驶员（康复驾驶员 [RDs]）在接受短期同理心诱导计划前后的大脑功能。作为我们之前研究的延伸，我们首先评估了这些 RDs 对引起同理心的社会刺激的神经反应是否发生变化。为了将同理心诱导的神经生理效应与任何其他潜在影响隔离开来，我们将这些 RDs 与 27 名年龄、惯用手和驾驶经验匹配的对照驾驶员（CDs）进行了比较，这些 CD 没有接受该计划。然后，我们进行了双 fMRI“超扫描”，以评估同理心诱导是否会改变驾驶员之间真实社会互动过程中的大脑反应；即在合作和/或竞争交流期间。我们的数据显示，与 CD 相比，RDs 在接受计划之前对社会情感刺激的大脑反应较弱，但在同理心诱导后，这种差异得到了逆转。此外，我们观察到 RD 在竞争社会交流期间的大脑反应模式在程序前后评估之间存在差异，我们将其解释为反映了他们对其他道路使用者感知错误行为的反应倾向发生了变化。总之，这些发现表明同理心诱导是一种有效的驾驶员康复形式，神经科学技术可用于评估和改进康复计划。
