title: Positive correlation between drowsiness and prefrontal activation during a simulated speed-control driving task.
abstract: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between drowsiness and prefrontal activation during simulated driving tasks using a wireless portable near-infrared spectroscopy device. Participants drove from start to goal along default routes with either intentional control of their driving speed (speed-control group) or not (speed-free group). Drowsiness level was assessed using a five-item Likert-type questionnaire. The behavioral data indicated longer driving time in the speed-control group than in the speed-free group, whereas no difference in the number of errors was found between the two groups. Importantly, the speed-control group showed a significant positive correlation between the drowsiness score and left prefrontal activation, whereas the speed-free group did not. The results suggest that drowsy individuals may show increased prefrontal activation as compensatory efforts to maintain the desired level of performance in tasks that require deliberate control of behaviors. Furthermore, the present study shows that near-infrared spectroscopy may provide us with a possibility to examine the state of drowsiness during daily-life operations.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China bDepartment of Cognitive Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D018910:Video Games; D055815:Young Adult