A Neuroergonomic Approach Fostered by Wearable EEG for the Multimodal Assessment of Drivers Trainees

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Oct 11;23(20):8389. doi: 10.3390/s23208389.

Abstract

When assessing trainees' progresses during a driving training program, instructors can only rely on the evaluation of a trainee's explicit behavior and their performance, without having any insight about the training effects at a cognitive level. However, being able to drive does not imply knowing how to drive safely in a complex scenario such as the road traffic. Indeed, the latter point involves mental aspects, such as the ability to manage and allocate one's mental effort appropriately, which are difficult to assess objectively. In this scenario, this study investigates the validity of deploying an electroencephalographic neurometric of mental effort, obtained through a wearable electroencephalographic device, to improve the assessment of the trainee. The study engaged 22 young people, without or with limited driving experience. They were asked to drive along five different but similar urban routes, while their brain activity was recorded through electroencephalography. Moreover, driving performance, subjective and reaction times measures were collected for a multimodal analysis. In terms of subjective and performance measures, no driving improvement could be detected either through the driver's subjective measures or through their driving performance. On the other side, through the electroencephalographic neurometric of mental effort, it was possible to catch their improvement in terms of mental performance, with a decrease in experienced mental demand after three repetitions of the driving training tasks. These results were confirmed by the analysis of reaction times, that significantly improved from the third repetition as well. Therefore, being able to measure when a task is less mentally demanding, and so more automatic, allows to deduce the degree of users training, becoming capable of handling additional tasks and reacting to unexpected events.

Keywords: Passive Brain–Computer Interface (BCI); car simulator; driving education; learning; mental effort; neuroergonomics; road safety; wearable EEG.

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Traffic
  • Adolescent
  • Automobile Driving*
  • Electroencephalography / methods
  • Humans
  • Reaction Time
  • Wearable Electronic Devices*

Grants and funding

This work was co-funded by the European Commission by H2020 projects “MINDTOOTH: Wearable device to decode human mind by neurometrics for a new concept of smart interaction with the surrounding environment” (GA n. 950998) and “FITDRIVE: Monitoring devices for overall FITness of Drivers” (GA n. 953432). The individual grants “CHALLENGES:CompreHensive frAmework to aLLEge andaNalyse surGEons’ Stress” (Bando Ateneo Medio 2021),“BRAINORCHESTRA: Multimodal teamwork assessment through hyperscanning technique” (Bando Ateneo Medio 2022) provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Gianluca Borghini, “REMES–Remote tool for emotional states evaluation” provided to Vincenzo Ronca, and “HFAUX-Aviation: Advanced tool for Human Factors evaluation for the AUXiliary systems assessment inAviation”, provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Vincenzo Ronca are also acknowledged. This work has also been carried out within the framework of the GURU (Sviluppo di un sistema multisensoriale a realtà mista per l’addestramento dinamico di lavoratori in ambienti ad alto rischio), co-financed by INAIL institute within the call BRIC2021; and GR-2019-12369824 “Detecting “windows of responsiveness” in Minimally Conscious State patients: a neurophysiological study to provide a multimodal-passive Brain-Computer Interface”, funded by Italian Ministry of Health.