title: A passenger reduces sleepy driver's activation in the right prefrontal cortex: A laboratory study using near-infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: 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.
authors: School of Management, Zhejiang University, China; Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China; Cognitive Informatics Unit, Nagoya University, Japan. Electronic address: liu_tao@zju.edu.cn.
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: He
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Wuming
authors: W
authors: He
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Xide
authors: X
authors: Yu
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Siyuan
authors: S
authors: Guo
authors: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
authors: Guiping
authors: G
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Driving safety; Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS); Passenger; Prefrontal cortex (PFC); Sleepiness