Bloomfield Peter M, Green Hayden, Gant Nicholas
Department of Exercise Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Centre for Brain Research, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 12;16(3):e0248533. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248533. eCollection 2021.
Motor vehicle operation is a complicated task and substantial cognitive resources are required for safe driving. Experimental paradigms examining cognitive workload using driving simulators often introduce secondary tasks, such as mathematical exercises, or utilise simulated in-vehicle information systems. The effects of manipulating the demands of the primary driving task have not been examined in detail using advanced neuroimaging techniques. This study used a manipulation of the simulated driving environment to test the impact of increased driving complexity on brain activity. Fifteen participants drove in two scenarios reflecting common driving environments differing in the amount of vehicular traffic, frequency of intersections, number of buildings, and speed limit restrictions. Functional near infrared spectroscopy was used to quantify changes in cortical activity; fifty-five optodes were placed over the prefrontal and occipital cortices, commonly assessed areas during driving. Compared to baseline, both scenarios increased oxyhaemoglobin in the bilateral prefrontal cortex and cerebral blood volume in the right prefrontal cortex (all p ≤ 0.05). Deoxyhaemoglobin decreased at the bilateral aspects of the prefrontal cortex but overall tended to increase in the medial aspect during both scenarios (both p ≤ 0.05). Cerebral oxygen exchange significantly declined at the lateral aspects of the prefrontal cortex, with a small but significant increase seen in the medial aspect (both p < 0.05). There were no significant differences for oxyhaemoglobin, deoxyhaemoglobin, or cerebral blood volume (all p > 0.05). This study demonstrates that functional near infrared spectroscopy is capable of detecting changes in cortical activity elicited by simulated driving tasks but may be less sensitive to variations in driving workload aggregated over a longer duration.
机动车驾驶是一项复杂的任务，安全驾驶需要大量的认知资源。使用驾驶模拟器检查认知工作量的实验范式通常会引入次要任务，如数学练习，或利用模拟车载信息系统。尚未使用先进的神经成像技术详细研究操纵主要驾驶任务需求的影响。本研究通过操纵模拟驾驶环境来测试驾驶复杂性增加对大脑活动的影响。15名参与者在两种场景中驾驶，这两种场景反映了常见的驾驶环境，在车辆交通量、交叉路口频率、建筑物数量和速度限制方面有所不同。使用功能近红外光谱来量化皮质活动的变化；55个光电极放置在前额叶和枕叶皮质上，这是驾驶过程中通常评估的区域。与基线相比，两种场景均增加了双侧前额叶皮质中的氧合血红蛋白以及右侧前额叶皮质中的脑血容量（所有p≤0.05）。前额叶皮质双侧的脱氧血红蛋白减少，但在两种场景中内侧总体上趋于增加（两者p≤0.05）。前额叶皮质外侧的脑氧交换显著下降，内侧有小但显著的增加（两者p<0.05）。氧合血红蛋白、脱氧血红蛋白或脑血容量无显著差异（所有p>0.05）。本研究表明，功能近红外光谱能够检测由模拟驾驶任务引起的皮质活动变化，但可能对较长时间内累积的驾驶工作量变化不太敏感。
