Brain gamma oscillations of healthy people during simulated driving

Abstract

Driving was a complex human behavior not only including limb movements but also involving a lot of neuropsychological processes, such as perception, attention, learning, memory, decision making, and action control. Gamma rhythm had been linked with several cognitive functions such attention, memory and perception. In order to explore the understanding of the brain under the real environments, a driving simulator environment might be a best tool that stimulates the brain dynamic activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate cerebral gamma oscillatory differences in the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital regions associated with psychological processes during simulated car driving. Neurophysiological signals of 5 healthy volunteers were recorded by using electroencephalography (EEG) during resting and simulated driving, respectively. Oscillatory differences in the gamma band were calculated by comparison between “resting” and “driving”. “Resting” was the baseline, and oscillatory differences in the different regions during “driving” showed an increase in comparison with a baseline. The results indicated that brain oscillatory dynamics could play a role in cognitive processing, and might mediate the interaction between excitation and inhibition.