title: Estimating direction in brain-behavior interactions: Proactive and reactive brain states in driving.
abstract: Conventional neuroimaging analyses have ascribed function to particular brain regions, exploiting the power of the subtraction technique in fMRI and event-related potential analyses in EEG. Moving beyond this convention, many researchers have begun exploring network-based neurodynamics and coordination between brain regions as a function of behavioral parameters or environmental statistics; however, most approaches average evoked activity across the experimental session to study task-dependent networks. Here, we examined on-going oscillatory activity as measured with EEG and use a methodology to estimate directionality in brain-behavior interactions. After source reconstruction, activity within specific frequency bands (delta: 2-3Hz; theta: 4-7Hz; alpha: 8-12Hz; beta: 13-25Hz) in a priori regions of interest was linked to continuous behavioral measurements, and we used a predictive filtering scheme to estimate the asymmetry between brain-to-behavior and behavior-to-brain prediction using a variant of Granger causality. We applied this approach to a simulated driving task and examined directed relationships between brain activity and continuous driving performance (steering behavior or vehicle heading error). Our results indicated that two neuro-behavioral states may be explored with this methodology: a Proactive brain state that actively plans the response to the sensory information and is characterized by delta-beta activity, and a Reactive brain state that processes incoming information and reacts to environmental statistics primarily within the alpha band.
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, United States; Qusp Labs., San Diego, CA, United States; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States. Electronic address: javier.o.garcia.civ@mail.mil.
authors.forename: Javier O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, United States.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, United States.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kerick
authors.affiliation: DCS Corporation, Alexandria, VA, United States.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Qusp Labs., San Diego, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Tim R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Mullen
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, United States; University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, United States; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
authors.forename: Jean M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vettel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Driving; EEG; Neuro-behavioral analysis; Source analysis