Neurobehavioural evaluation of rehabilitation programs for dangerous drivers

Abstract

Study aim to advance understanding of empathy in different driver samples, and to identify ways of modifying such social behaviour in dangerous drivers. This is achieved by evaluating empathy – related driver – rehabilitation programs with a novel neurobehavioral technique. Statistics show that almost 85% of road – traffic accidents in the Czech Republic are caused by the drivers themselves, and approximately 63% of these accidents are due to dangerous driving behaviour (e. g. Speeding, aggressive driving). Developing an effective rehabilitation requires an objective method of evaluation. Our rehabilitation program for dangerous drivers consists of empathy induction. Many studies have revealed associations between reduced empathic awareness and various forms of antisocial behavior. Further research also shows that empathic skills can be enhanced during group therapy. Empathy and anti – social behaviour are associated with specific patterns of brain function and structure. Present study focuses on way, how to evaluate the drivers ‘rehabilitation program. We used for this evaluation MRI data combining functional (e.g. partial least squares) and effective connectivity analyses (e.g. dynamic causal modelling) with measures of structural covariance. Combining these multidimensional network level analyses of neuroimaging data with measures of trait empathy and behavioral performance on socio – emotional tasks allow us better comprehensive into brain relationships.