Brain activation during fast driving in a driving simulator: the role of the lateral prefrontal cortex

Using EEG to investigate the influence of boredom on prospective memory in top-down and bottom-up processing mechanisms for intelligent interaction

We aimed to investigate the alpha (α) activity in operators experiencing boredom while performing prolonged monitoring and prospective memory tasks using different processing mechanisms. Fifty-four participants underwent electroencephalography (EEG) and were found to have poorer prospective memory performance under top-down conditions. Further, α power and synchronisation were higher during bottom-up than in top-down processes, revealing an inhibition effect of the former. Significant differences in brain regions and hemispheres were identified to distinguish different cognitive processes in both information-processing mechanisms. Thus, people are likely to cope with boredom differently in terms of top-down and bottom-up processes. Specifically, a higher attention level was reported during top-down processing, to mitigate the negative influences of boredom. Overall, this study provides EEG evidence which suggests that prospective memory can be enhanced in top-down processing during prolonged monitoring tasks by increasing the salience of cues.

Bromazepam increases the error of the time interval judgments and modulates the EEG alpha asymmetry during time estimation

AIM

This study investigated the bromazepam effects in male subjects during the time estimation performance and EEG alpha asymmetry in electrodes associated with the frontal and motor cortex.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This is a double-blind, crossover study with a sample of 32 healthy adults under control (placebo) vs. experimental (bromazepam) during visual time-estimation task in combination with electroencephalographic analysis.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that the bromazepam increased the relative error in the 4 s, 7 s, and 9 s intervals (p = 0.001). In addition, oral bromazepam modulated the EEG alpha asymmetry in cortical areas during the time judgment (p ≤ 0.025).

CONCLUSION

The bromazepam decreases the precision of time estimation judgments and modulates the EEG alpha asymmetry, with greater left hemispheric dominance during time perception. Our findings suggest that bromazepam influences internal clock synchronization via the modulation of GABAergic receptors, strongly relating to attention, conscious perception, and behavioral performance.

Exploring Covert States of Brain Dynamics via Fuzzy Inference Encoding

Human brain inherently exhibits latent mental processes which are likely to change rapidly over time. A framework that adopts a fuzzy inference system is proposed to model the dynamics of the human brain. The fuzzy inference system is used to encode real-world data to represent the salient features of the EEG signals. Then, an unsupervised clustering is conducted on the extracted feature space to identify the brain (external and covert) states that respond to different cognitive demands. To understand the human state change, a state transition diagram is introduced, allowing visualization of connectivity patterns between every pair of states. We compute the transition probability between every pair of states to represent the relationships between the states. This state transition diagram is named as the Fuzzy Covert State Transition Diagram (FCOSTD), which helps the understanding of human states and human performance. We then apply FCOSTD on distracted driving experiments. FCOSTD successfully discovers the external and covert states, faithfully reveals the transition of the brain between states, and the route of the state change when humans are distracted during a driving task. The experimental results demonstrate that different subjects have similar states and inter-state transition behaviour (establishing the consistency of the system) but different ways to allocate brain resources as different actions are being taken.

Neural signatures of heterogeneity in risk-taking and strategic consistency

People display a high degree of heterogeneity in risk-taking behaviour, but this heterogeneity remains poorly understood. Here, we use a neural trait approach to examine if task-independent, brain-based differences can help uncover the sources of heterogeneity in risky decision-making. We extend prior research in two key ways. First, we disentangled risk-taking and strategic consistency using novel measures afforded by the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Second, we applied a personality neuroscience framework to explore why personality traits are typically only weakly related to risk-taking behaviour. We regressed participants' (N = 104) source localized resting-state electroencephalographic activity on risk-taking and strategic consistency. Results revealed that higher levels of resting-state delta-band current density (reflecting reduced cortical activation) in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were associated with increased risk-taking and decreased strategic consistency, respectively. These results suggest that heterogeneity in risk-taking behaviour is associated with neural dispositions related to sensitivity to the risk of loss, whereas heterogeneity in strategic consistency is associated with neural dispositions related to strategic decision-making. Finally, extraversion, neuroticism, openness, and self-control were broadly associated with both of the identified neural traits, which in turn mediated indirect associations between personality traits and behavioural measures. These results provide an explanation for the weak direct relationships between personality traits and risk-taking behaviour, supporting a personality neuroscience framework of traits and decision-making.

Cerebral haemodynamics during simulated driving: Changes in workload are detectable with functional near infrared spectroscopy

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.

A Frontal Neuropsychological Profile in Fitness to Drive

Traffic accidents are a global concern due to the elevated mortality rates of both drivers and pedestrians. The World Health Organization declared 2011-2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, endorsing initiatives to reduce traffic-related deaths. Yet, despite these incentives, fatal accidents still occur. Different studies have linked deficits in executive functions to risky driving attitudes and crashes. The present study focuses on demographic, cognitive and personality factors, related to the prefrontal cortex, that are characteristic of drivers prone to risky behavior behind the wheel. The penalty Points System was used to classify drivers as "safe", with no point loss over a two-year period, or "risky", with full point loss during the same interval. A neuropsychological assessment of prefrontal cognitive functions was carried out on each group to identify variables associated with safe and risky behavior. Neuropsychological indexes were obtained from a continuous performance task without cue (Simple Attention), a continuous performance task with cue (Conditioned Attention), the Tower of Hanoi test and the Neurologically-related Changes in Personality Inventory (NECHAPI). A Discriminant Analysis (DA) found that education level, reaction times in Simple and Conditioned Attention, learning errors in the Tower of Hanoi and vulnerability in the personality test, best predicted whether drivers were likely to be in the safe or risky group. Finally, a cross-validation analysis performed on the same sample correctly classified 87.5% of the drivers. These data suggest that prefrontal dysfunction contributes to risky behavior behind the wheel. The inclusion of cognitive programs to identify and train drivers with this propensity could reduce risky driving, and consequently, save lives on the road.

Brain-based limitations in attention and secondary task engagement during high-fidelity driving simulation among young adults

Distracted driving remains a leading factor in fatal motor vehicle crashes, particularly in young drivers. Due to ongoing neuromaturation, attention capabilities are changing and improving throughout young adulthood. Here, we sought to bridge neuroscience with driving simulation by evaluating the effects of driving on attention processing through a selective auditory attention task. Participants (18-25 years old) engaged in an auditory attention task during LOAD (driving a high-fidelity simulator) and No-LOAD conditions (sitting in the parked simulator). For the auditory task, participants responded to a target auditory tone in a target ear. The event-related potential components, collected from frontal and posterior regions, P2 and P3, were used to evaluate attention processing across LOAD and No-LOAD conditions for attended and unattended stimuli. Data from 24 participants were evaluated in repeated measures ANOVAs, considering interactions between load and attention conditions for the P2 and P3 components of the cortical region. We observed a significant difference between response to attended and unattended stimuli for posterior P2 and P3 responses at the frontal and posterior midline sites. Comparing LOAD and No-LOAD conditions, there was a significant difference for P2 response at the posterior site and P3 response at the frontal site. A significant interaction between load and attended stimuli was found for P3 response at the posterior site. These data document differences in neural processing of auditory stimuli during high-fidelity simulated driving versus sitting parked in the simulator. Findings suggest the cognitive load of driving affects auditory attention.

Driving Style Recognition Based on Electroencephalography Data From a Simulated Driving Experiment

Driving style is a very important indicator and a crucial measurement of a driver's performance and ability to drive in a safe and protective manner. A dangerous driving style would possibly result in dangerous behaviors. If the driving styles can be recognized by some appropriate classification methods, much attention could be paid to the drivers with dangerous driving styles. The driving style recognition module can be integrated into the advanced driving assistance system (ADAS), which integrates different modules to improve driving automation, safety and comfort, and then the driving safety could be enhanced by pre-warning the drivers or adjusting the vehicle's controlling parameters when the dangerous driving style is detected. In most previous studies, driver's questionnaire data and vehicle's objective driving data were utilized to recognize driving styles. And promising results were obtained. However, these methods were indirect or subjective in driving style evaluation. In this paper a method based on objective driving data and electroencephalography (EEG) data was presented to classify driving styles. A simulated driving system was constructed and the EEG data and the objective driving data were collected synchronously during the simulated driving. The driving style of each participant was classified by clustering the driving data via K-means. Then the EEG data was denoised and the amplitude and the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of four frequency bands were extracted as the EEG features by Fast Fourier transform and Welch. Finally, the EEG features, combined with the classification results of the driving data were used to train a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model and a leave-one-subject-out cross validation was utilized to evaluate the performance. The SVM classification accuracy was about 80.0%. Conservative drivers showed higher PSDs in the parietal and occipital areas in the alpha and beta bands, aggressive drivers showed higher PSD in the temporal area in the delta and theta bands. These results imply that different driving styles were related with different driving strategies and mental states and suggest the feasibility of driving style recognition from EEG patterns.

Theta resting EEG in TPJ/pSTS is associated with individual differences in the feeling of being looked at

Direct eye gaze is a powerful stimulus in social interactions, yet people vary considerably in the range of gaze lines that they accept as being direct (cone of direct gaze, CoDG). Here, we searched for a possible neural trait marker of these individual differences. We measured the width of the CoDG in 137 healthy participants and related their individual CoDG to their neural baseline activation as measured with resting electroencephalogram. Using a source-localization technique, we found that resting theta current density in the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and adjacent posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) was associated with the width of CoDG. Our findings suggest that the higher the baseline cortical activation in the left TPJ/pSTS, the wider the CoDG and thus the more liberal the individuals’ judgments were in deciding whether a looker stimulus was making eye contact or not. This is a first demonstration of the neural signatures underlying individual differences in the feeling of being looked at.

Place Cell-Like Activity in the Primary Sensorimotor and Premotor Cortex During Monkey Whole-Body Navigation

Primary motor (M1), primary somatosensory (S1) and dorsal premotor (PMd) cortical areas of rhesus monkeys previously have been associated only with sensorimotor control of limb movements. Here we show that a significant number of neurons in these areas also represent body position and orientation in space. Two rhesus monkeys (K and M) used a wheelchair controlled by a brain-machine interface (BMI) to navigate in a room. During this whole-body navigation, the discharge rates of M1, S1, and PMd neurons correlated with the two-dimensional (2D) room position and the direction of the wheelchair and the monkey head. This place cell-like activity was observed in both monkeys, with 44.6% and 33.3% of neurons encoding room position in monkeys K and M, respectively, and the overlapping populations of 41.0% and 16.0% neurons encoding head direction. These observations suggest that primary sensorimotor and premotor cortical areas in primates are likely involved in allocentrically representing body position in space during whole-body navigation, which is an unexpected finding given the classical hierarchical model of cortical processing that attributes functional specialization for spatial processing to the hippocampal formation.

Theta and Alpha Oscillations in Attentional Interaction during Distracted Driving

Performing multiple tasks simultaneously usually affects the behavioral performance as compared with executing the single task. Moreover, processing multiple tasks simultaneously often involve more cognitive demands. Two visual tasks, lane-keeping task and mental calculation, were utilized to assess the brain dynamics through 32-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded from 14 participants. A 400-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) factor was used to induce distinct levels of attentional requirements. In the dual-task conditions, the deteriorated behavior reflected the divided attention and the overlapping brain resources used. The frontal, parietal and occipital components were decomposed by independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. The event- and response-related theta and alpha oscillations in selected brain regions were investigated first. The increased theta oscillation in frontal component and decreased alpha oscillations in parietal and occipital components reflect the cognitive demands and attentional requirements as executing the designed tasks. Furthermore, time-varying interactive over-additive (O-Add), additive (Add) and under-additive (U-Add) activations were explored and summarized through the comparison between the summation of the elicited spectral perturbations in two single-task conditions and the spectral perturbations in the dual task. Add and U-Add activations were observed while executing the dual tasks. U-Add theta and alpha activations dominated the posterior region in dual-task situations. Our results show that both deteriorated behaviors and interactive brain activations should be comprehensively considered for evaluating workload or attentional interaction precisely.

Strength of Structural and Functional Frontostriatal Connectivity Predicts Self-Control in the Healthy Elderly

Self-regulation refers to the successful use of executive functions and initiation of top-down processes to control one's thoughts, behavior, and emotions, and it is crucial to perform self-control. Self-control is needed to overcome impulses and can be assessed by delay of gratification (DoG) and delay discounting (DD) paradigms. In children/adolescents, good DoG/DD ability depends on the maturity of frontostriatal connectivity, and its decline in strength with advancing age might adversely affect self-control because prefrontal brain regions are more prone to normal age-related atrophy than other regions. Here, we aimed at highlighting the relationship between frontostriatal connectivity strength and DoG performance in advanced age. We recruited 40 healthy elderly individuals (mean age 74.0 ± 7.7 years) and assessed the DoG ability using the German version of the DoG test for adults in addition to the delay discounting (DD) paradigm. Based on diffusion-weighted and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, respectively, the structural and functional whole-brain connectome were reconstructed based on 90 different brain regions of interest in addition to a 12-node frontostriatal DoG-specific network and the resulting connectivity matrices were subjected to network-based statistics. The 90-nodes whole-brain connectome analyses revealed subnetworks significantly associated with DoG and DD with a preponderance of frontostriatal nodes involved suggesting a high specificity of the findings. Structural and functional connectivity strengths between the putamen, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens on the one hand and orbitofrontal, dorsal, and ventral lateral prefrontal cortices on the other hand showed strong positive correlations with DoG and negative correlations with DD corrected for age, sex, intracranial volume, and head motion parameters. These associations cannot be explained by differences in impulsivity and executive functioning. This pattern of correlations between structural or functional frontostriatal connectivity strength and self-control suggests that, in addition to the importance of the frontostriatal nodes itself, the structural and functional properties of different connections within the frontostriatal network are crucial for self-controlled behaviors in the healthy elderly. Because high DoG/low DD is a significant predictor of willpower and wellbeing in the elderly population, interventions aiming at strengthening frontostriatal connectivity to strengthen self-controlled behavior are needed in the future.

A passenger reduces sleepy driver's activation in the right prefrontal cortex: A laboratory study using near-infrared spectroscopy

The present study aimed to examine how a passenger affects the sleepiness effect (awake vs. sleepy) on an individual's prefrontal activation during a simulated driving-game task using a wireless portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device. Participants drove from start to goal along default routes either solely (no-passenger group) or with a friend sitting beside him/her as a passenger (with-passenger group). Sleepiness level was assessed by a five-item scale questionnaire. In the no-passenger group, there were no performance and activation differences between the sleepy and awake participants. In the with-passenger group, by contrast, the sleepy participants showed more errors and lower activations in their right prefrontal cortex than the awake participants. These results suggest that a passenger has little effect on awake participants, but may weaken the sleepy participants' vigilance and/or their cognitive abilities of action control. Practically, the present study demonstrates that NIRS may provide us a new possibility to monitor and examine the driver's mental states in the brain.

Greater Activity in the Frontal Cortex on Left Curves: A Vector-Based fNIRS Study of Left and Right Curve Driving

OBJECTIVES

In the brain, the mechanisms of attention to the left and the right are known to be different. It is possible that brain activity when driving also differs with different horizontal road alignments (left or right curves), but little is known about this. We found driver brain activity to be different when driving on left and right curves, in an experiment using a large-scale driving simulator and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The participants were fifteen healthy adults. We created a course simulating an expressway, comprising straight line driving and gentle left and right curves, and monitored the participants under driving conditions, in which they drove at a constant speed of 100 km/h, and under non-driving conditions, in which they simply watched the screen (visual task). Changes in hemoglobin concentrations were monitored at 48 channels including the prefrontal cortex, the premotor cortex, the primary motor cortex and the parietal cortex. From orthogonal vectors of changes in deoxyhemoglobin and changes in oxyhemoglobin, we calculated changes in cerebral oxygen exchange, reflecting neural activity, and statistically compared the resulting values from the right and left curve sections.

RESULTS

Under driving conditions, there were no sites where cerebral oxygen exchange increased significantly more during right curves than during left curves (p > 0.05), but cerebral oxygen exchange increased significantly more during left curves (p < 0.05) in the right premotor cortex, the right frontal eye field and the bilateral prefrontal cortex. Under non-driving conditions, increases were significantly greater during left curves (p < 0.05) only in the right frontal eye field.

CONCLUSIONS

Left curve driving was thus found to require more brain activity at multiple sites, suggesting that left curve driving may require more visual attention than right curve driving. The right frontal eye field was activated under both driving and non-driving conditions.

Neural mechanisms underlying urgent and evaluative behaviors: An fMRI study on the interaction of automatic and controlled processes

Dual-process theories have dominated the study of risk perception and risk-taking over the last two decades. However, there is a lack of objective brain-level evidence supporting the two systems of processing in every-day risky behavior. To address this issue, we propose the dissociation between evaluative and urgent behaviors as evidence of dual processing in risky driving situations. Our findings show a dissociation of evaluative and urgent behavior both at the behavioral and neural level. fMRI data showed an increase of activation in areas implicated in motor programming, emotional processing, and visuomotor integration in urgent behavior compared to evaluative behavior. These results support a more automatic processing of risk in urgent tasks, relying mainly on heuristics and experiential appraisal. The urgent task, which is characterized by strong time pressure and the possibility for negative consequences among others factors, creates a suitable context for the experiential-affective system to guide the decision-making process. Moreover, we observed greater frontal activation in the urgent task, suggesting the participation of cognitive control in safe behaviors. The findings of this research are relevant for the study of the neural mechanisms underlying dual process models in risky perception and decision-making, especially because of their proximity to everyday activities.

A novel computer test to assess driving-relevant cognitive functions--a pilot study

BACKGROUND

The assessment of driving-relevant cognitive functions in older drivers is a difficult challenge as there is no clear-cut dividing line between normal cognition and impaired cognition and not all cognitive functions are equally important for driving.

METHODS

To support decision makers, the Bern Cognitive Screening Test (BCST) for older drivers was designed. It is a computer-assisted test battery assessing visuo-spatial attention, executive functions, eye-hand coordination, distance judgment, and speed regulation. Here we compare the performance in BCST with the performance in paper and pencil cognitive screening tests and the performance in the driving simulator testing of 41 safe drivers (without crash history) and 14 unsafe drivers (with crash history).

RESULTS

Safe drivers performed better than unsafe drivers in BCST (Mann-Whitney U test: U = 125.5; p = 0.001) and in the driving simulator (Student's t-test: t(44) = -2.64, p = 0.006). No clear group differences were found in paper and pencil screening tests (p > 0.05; ns). BCST was best at identifying older unsafe drivers (sensitivity 86%; specificity 61%) and was also better tolerated than the driving simulator test with fewer dropouts.

CONCLUSIONS

BCST is more accurate than paper and pencil screening tests, and better tolerated than driving simulator testing when assessing driving-relevant cognition in older drivers.

Brain activity during driving with distraction: an immersive fMRI study

Introduction: Non-invasive measurements of brain activity have an important role to play in understanding driving ability. The current study aimed to identify the neural underpinnings of human driving behavior by visualizing the areas of the brain involved in driving under different levels of demand, such as driving while distracted or making left turns at busy intersections.

Materials and Methods: To capture brain activity during driving, we placed a driving simulator with a fully functional steering wheel and pedals in a 3.0 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) system. To identify the brain areas involved while performing different real-world driving maneuvers, participants completed tasks ranging from simple (right turns) to more complex (left turns at busy intersections). To assess the effects of driving while distracted, participants were asked to perform an auditory task while driving analogous to speaking on a hands-free device and driving.

Results: A widely distributed brain network was identified, especially when making left turns at busy intersections compared to more simple driving tasks. During distracted driving, brain activation shifted dramatically from the posterior, visual and spatial areas to the prefrontal cortex.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the distracted brain sacrificed areas in the posterior brain important for visual attention and alertness to recruit enough brain resources to perform a secondary, cognitive task. The present findings offer important new insights into the scientific understanding of the neuro-cognitive mechanisms of driving behavior and lay down an important foundation for future clinical research.

Perspective and agency during video gaming influences spatial presence experience and brain activation patterns

Background

The experience of spatial presence (SP), i.e., the sense of being present in a virtual environment, emerges if an individual perceives himself as 1) if he were actually located (self-location) and 2) able to act in the virtual environment (possible actions). In this study, two main media factors (perspective and agency) were investigated while participants played a commercially available video game.

Methods

The differences in SP experience and associated brain activation were compared between the conditions of game play in first person perspective (1PP) and third person perspective (3PP) as well as between agency, i.e., active navigation of the video game character (active), and non-agency, i.e., mere passive observation (passive). SP was assessed using standard questionnaires, and brain activation was measured using electroencephalography (EEG) and sLORETA source localisation (standard low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography).

Results

Higher SP ratings were obtained in the 1PP compared with the 3PP condition and in the active compared with the passive condition. On a neural level, we observed in the 1PP compared with the 3PP condition significantly less alpha band power in the parietal, the occipital and the limbic cortex. In the active compared with the passive condition, we uncovered significantly more theta band power in frontal brain regions.

Conclusion

We propose that manipulating the factors perspective and agency influences SP formation by either directly or indirectly modulating the ego-centric visual processing in a fronto-parietal network. The neuroscientific results are discussed in terms of the theoretical concepts of SP.

Distracted driving in elderly and middle-aged drivers

Automobile driving is a safety-critical real-world example of multitasking. A variety of roadway and in-vehicle distracter tasks create information processing loads that compete for the neural resources needed to drive safely. Drivers with mind and brain aging may be particularly susceptible to distraction due to waning cognitive resources and control over attention. This study examined distracted driving performance in an instrumented vehicle (IV) in 86 elderly (mean=72.5 years, SD=5.0 years) and 51 middle-aged drivers (mean=53.7 years, SD=9.3 year) under a concurrent auditory-verbal processing load created by the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). Compared to baseline (no-task) driving performance, distraction was associated with reduced steering control in both groups, with middle-aged drivers showing a greater increase in steering variability. The elderly drove slower and showed decreased speed variability during distraction compared to middle-aged drivers. They also tended to "freeze up", spending significantly more time holding the gas pedal steady, another tactic that may mitigate time pressured integration and control of information, thereby freeing mental resources to maintain situation awareness. While 39% of elderly and 43% of middle-aged drivers committed significantly more driving safety errors during distraction, 28% and 18%, respectively, actually improved, compatible with allocation of attention resources to safety critical tasks under a cognitive load.

An exploratory fNIRS study with immersive virtual reality: a new method for technical implementation

For over two decades Virtual Reality (VR) has been used as a useful tool in several fields, from medical and psychological treatments, to industrial and military applications. Only in recent years researchers have begun to study the neural correlates that subtend VR experiences. Even if the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is the most common and used technique, it suffers several limitations and problems. Here we present a methodology that involves the use of a new and growing brain imaging technique, functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), while participants experience immersive VR. In order to allow a proper fNIRS probe application, a custom-made VR helmet was created. To test the adapted helmet, a virtual version of the line bisection task was used. Participants could bisect the lines in a virtual peripersonal or extrapersonal space, through the manipulation of a Nintendo Wiimote ® controller in order for the participants to move a virtual laser pointer. Although no neural correlates of the dissociation between peripersonal and extrapersonal space were found, a significant hemodynamic activity with respect to the baseline was present in the right parietal and occipital areas. Both advantages and disadvantages of the presented methodology are discussed.

Expertise in Video Gaming and Driving Skills

We assessed whether video game experience exerts substantial influence on standardised measures of driving skill. Three subject groups (n = 90) with different video game experiences (frequent, moderate and without extensive experience) performed standard driving tests on a driving simulator, computerised tests measuring driving skills, and standard attention tests. Even extensive video game experience had no influence on performance in computerised tests measuring driving skills. But there was a strong influence of video game experience on computerised attention tests, with frequent gamers outperforming the control subjects in several attention measures. These findings show that the evaluation of driving skill should rely strongly on driving skills tests which are specifically designed for this particular purpose. The use of standard computerised attention tests for the assessment of driving skills runs the risk of introducing a performance bias during testing attributable to frequent video game use.

Distinctive activation patterns under intrinsically versus extrinsically driven cognitive loads in prefrontal cortex: a near-infrared spectroscopy study using a driving video game

To investigate the neural bases of intrinsically and extrinsically driven cognitive loads in daily life, we measured repetitively prefrontal activation in three (one control and two experimental) groups during a driving video game using near-infrared spectroscopy. The control group drove to goal four times with distinct route-maps illustrating default turning points. In contrast, the memory group drove the memorized default route without a route-map, and the emergency group drove with a route-map, but was instructed to change the default route by an extrinsically given verbal command (turn left or right) as an envisioned emergency. The predictability of a turning point in the route in each group was relatively different: due to extrinsic dictate of others in the emergency group, intrinsic memory in the memory group, and route-map aid in the control group. We analyzed concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin (CoxyHb) in the three critical periods (pre-turning, actual-turning, and post-turning). The emergency group showed a significantly increasing pattern of CoxyHb throughout the three periods, and a significant reduction in CoxyHb throughout the repetitive trials, but the memory group did not, even though both experimental groups showed higher activation than the control group in the pre-turning period. These results suggest that the prefrontal cortex differentiates the intrinsically (memory) and the extrinsically (dictate of others) driven cognitive loads according to the predictability of turning behavior, although the two types of cognitive loads commonly show increasing activation in the pre-turning period as the preparation effect.

A selective review of simulated driving studies: Combining naturalistic and hybrid paradigms, analysis approaches, and future directions

Naturalistic paradigms such as movie watching or simulated driving that mimic closely real-world complex activities are becoming more widely used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies both because of their ability to robustly stimulate brain connectivity and the availability of analysis methods which are able to capitalize on connectivity within and among intrinsic brain networks identified both during a task and in resting fMRI data. In this paper we review over a decade of work from our group and others on the use of simulated driving paradigms to study both the healthy brain as well as the effects of acute alcohol administration on functional connectivity during such paradigms. We briefly review our initial work focused on the configuration of the driving simulator and the analysis strategies. We then describe in more detail several recent studies from our group including a hybrid study examining distracted driving and compare resulting data with those from a separate visual oddball task (Fig. 6). The analysis of these data was performed primarily using a combination of group independent component analysis (ICA) and the general linear model (GLM) and in the various studies we highlight novel findings which result from an analysis of either 1) within-network connectivity, 2) inter-network connectivity, also called functional network connectivity, or 3) the degree to which the modulation of the various intrinsic networks were associated with the alcohol administration and the task context. Despite the fact that the behavioral effects of alcohol intoxication are relatively well known, there is still much to discover on how acute alcohol exposure modulates brain function in a selective manner, associated with behavioral alterations. Through the above studies, we have learned more regarding the impact of acute alcohol intoxication on organization of the brain's intrinsic connectivity networks during performance of a complex, real-world cognitive operation. Lessons learned from the above studies have broader applicability to designing ecologically valid, complex, functional MRI cognitive paradigms and incorporating pharmacologic challenges into such studies. Overall, the use of hybrid driving studies is a particularly promising area of neuroscience investigation.

Brain morphometry and functional imaging techniques in dementia: methods, findings and relevance in forensic neurology

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The ability to predict what people perceive from patterns of brain activity raises futuristic questions. Amongst these are questions about the role of brain activity in predicting misdemeanours or preventing them. Two obvious cases in point are the tendency of some patients with fronto-temporal lobar degeneration to become aggressive and the difficulty deciding when Alzheimer patients need to stop driving for reasons of safety. These two situations will be used to structure a review of the literature in this general area.

RECENT FINDINGS

Multivariate classification techniques (MCT) improve early accurate diagnosis of dementia. Given the known frequency of behavioural abnormalities, this information allows better prediction of the future frequency of such behaviour. In addition, MCT could prove suitable for providing reasonably accurate information of relevance to individuals about the combination of future symptoms. However, no study has applied MCT to the prediction of future behavioural problems or to assessments of road safety in dementia.

SUMMARY

MCT could improve the prediction of offensive or risky behaviour in which standard neuropsychological testing is less than conclusive. Cognitive function in multiple domains, as required for driving, is likely to be best examined using well established neuropsychological tests and possibly driving simulators.

A neural marker of costly punishment behavior

Human readiness to incur personal costs to punish norm violators is a key force in the maintenance of social norms. The willingness to punish is, however, characterized by vast individual heterogeneity that is poorly understood. In fact, this heterogeneity has so far defied explanations in terms of individual-level demographic or psychological variables. Here, we use resting electroencephalography, a stable measure of individual differences in cortical activity, to show that a highly specific neural marker--baseline cortical activity in the right prefrontal cortex--predicts individuals' punishment behavior. The analysis of task-independent individual variation in cortical baseline activity provides a new window into the neurobiology of decision making by bringing dispositional neural markers to the forefront of the analysis.

The neural circuitry of a broken promise

Promises are one of the oldest human-specific psychological mechanisms fostering cooperation and trust. Here, we study the neural underpinnings of promise keeping and promise breaking. Subjects first make a promise decision (promise stage), then they anticipate whether the promise affects the interaction partner's decision (anticipation stage) and are subsequently free to keep or break the promise (decision stage). Findings revealed that the breaking of the promise is associated with increased activation in the DLPFC, ACC, and amygdala, suggesting that the dishonest act involves an emotional conflict due to the suppression of the honest response. Moreover, the breach of the promise can be predicted by a perfidious brain activity pattern (anterior insula, ACC, inferior frontal gyrus) during the promise and anticipation stage, indicating that brain measurements may reveal malevolent intentions before dishonest or deceitful acts are actually committed.

Virtual reality and the role of the prefrontal cortex in adults and children

In this review, the neural underpinnings of the experience of presence are outlined. Firstly, it is shown that presence is associated with activation of a distributed network, which includes the dorsal and ventral visual stream, the parietal cortex, the premotor cortex, mesial temporal areas, the brainstem and the thalamus. Secondly, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is identified as a key node of the network as it modulates the activity of the network and the associated experience of presence. Thirdly, children lack the strong modulatory influence of the DLPFC on the network due to their unmatured frontal cortex. Fourthly, it is shown that presence-related measures are influenced by manipulating the activation in the DLPFC using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) while participants are exposed to the virtual roller coaster ride. Finally, the findings are discussed in the context of current models explaining the experience of presence, the rubber hand illusion, and out-of-body experiences.

Brain stimulation modulates driving behavior

Background

Driving a car is a complex task requiring coordinated functioning of distributed brain regions. Controlled and safe driving depends on the integrity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region, which has been shown to mature in late adolescence.

Methods

In this study, driving performance of twenty-four male participants was tested in a high-end driving simulator before and after the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for 15 minutes over the left or right DLPFC.

Results

We show that external modulation of both, the left and the right, DLPFC directly influences driving behavior. Excitation of the DLPFC (by applying anodal tDCS) leads to a more careful driving style in virtual scenarios without the participants noticing changes in their behavior.

Conclusion

This study is one of the first to prove that external stimulation of a specific brain area can influence a multi-part behavior in a very complex and everyday-life situation, therefore breaking new ground for therapy at a neural level.

Modulating presence and impulsiveness by external stimulation of the brain

Background

"The feeling of being there" is one possible way to describe the phenomenon of feeling present in a virtual environment and to act as if this environment is real. One brain area, which is hypothesized to be critically involved in modulating this feeling (also called presence) is the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), an area also associated with the control of impulsive behavior.

Methods

In our experiment we applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the right dlPFC in order to modulate the experience of presence while watching a virtual roller coaster ride. During the ride we also registered electro-dermal activity. Subjects also performed a test measuring impulsiveness and answered a questionnaire about their presence feeling while they were exposed to the virtual roller coaster scenario.

Results

Application of cathodal tDCS to the right dlPFC while subjects were exposed to a virtual roller coaster scenario modulates the electrodermal response to the virtual reality stimulus. In addition, measures reflecting impulsiveness were also modulated by application of cathodal tDCS to the right dlPFC.

Conclusion

Modulating the activation with the right dlPFC results in substantial changes in responses of the vegetative nervous system and changed impulsiveness. The effects can be explained by theories discussing the top-down influence of the right dlPFC on the "impulsive system".