The Effects of Sleep Quality on Vigilance and Driving Performance in a Train Simulator

Abstract

Train driving activity requires high vigilance to prevent human errors that can lead to accidents. One factor mentioned to reduce vigilance is poor sleep quality. But so far, not many studies have proven the effect of sleep quality on vigilance. Previous researches did not clearly conclude this effect. In addition to being vigilant, sleep quality is also thought to effect driving performance because of the close relationship between vigilance and driving performance. Based on those backgrounds, this study aimed to prove the effects of sleep quality on vigilance and driving performance through experiments in a train simulator under monotonous condition, which in some studies is also proved to reduce vigilance. This study involved eight male subjects who experienced two good and poor sleep quality treatments. Through vigilance measurements with Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) and electroencephalograph (EEG) using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) with significant value 0.05, it showed that there were effects of sleep quality on mean reaction times, minor lapses, mean relative band powers for theta, and speeding simultaneously (p-value = 0.015). The results of paired sample t-tests also showed the effects of monotonous driving conditions that affect mean reaction times (p-value = 0.01 on good sleep quality; p-value = 0.000 on poor sleep quality) and minor lapse (p-value = 0.000 on good sleep quality, p-value = 0.045 on poor sleep quality) at the beginning and the end of the experiment. From this study, it can be concluded that the quality of sleep affects vigilance and driving performance, so that poor sleep quality decreases vigilance.