Drivers’ EEG Responses to Different Distraction Tasks

Abstract

Driver distraction has been deemed a major cause of traffic accidents. However, drivers’ brain response activities to different distraction types have not been well investigated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the response of electroencephalography (EEG) activities to different distraction tasks. In the conducted simulation tests, three secondary tasks (i.e., a clock task, a 2-back task, and a navigation task) are designed to induce different types of driver distractions. Twenty-four participants are recruited for the designed tests, and differences in drivers’ brain response activities concerning distraction types are investigated. The results show that the differences in comprehensive distraction are more significant than that in single cognitive distraction. Friedman test and post hoc two-tailed Nemenyi test are conducted to further identify the differences in band activities among brain regions. The results show that the theta energy in the frontal lobe is significantly higher than that in other brain regions in distracted driving, whereas the alpha energy in the temporal lobe significantly decreases compared to other brain regions. These results provide theoretical references for the development of distraction detection systems based on EEG signals.