Cerebral haemodynamics during simulated driving: Changes in workload are detectable with functional near infrared spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248533
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Summary
This study investigates whether functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) can detect changes in cerebral haemodynamics associated with varying levels of cognitive workload during simulated driving. While previous research often manipulated cognitive load by adding secondary tasks (e.g., mathematical exercises), this approach lacks ecological validity. The authors aimed to determine if altering the primary driving environment itself—specifically comparing low-complexity rural driving to high-complexity urban driving—would elicit distinct patterns of cortical activation measurable via fNIRS. Fifteen healthy adult participants (mean age 22 years) completed two randomized driving scenarios in a fixed-base simulator: a "low load" rural route with minimal traffic and no intersections, and a "high load" urban route featuring heavy traffic, pedestrians, buildings, and intersections. Cerebral haemodynamics were monitored using a 55-channel fNIRS array positioned over the prefrontal and occipital cortices. Data were processed to calculate changes in oxyhaemoglobin (HbO), deoxyhaemoglobin (HbR), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and cerebral oxygen exchange (COE). Statistical analysis employed linear mixed-effects models to compare haemodynamic responses between baseline, low-load, and high-load conditions. The results indicated that both driving scenarios significantly increased cortical activity compared to baseline. Specifically, both conditions elicited significant increases in HbO in the bilateral prefrontal cortex and increased CBV in the right prefrontal cortex. Deoxyhaemoglobin decreased at the lateral aspects of the prefrontal cortex but tended to increase medially. Consequently, cerebral oxygen exchange significantly declined at the lateral prefrontal cortex, indicating increased neural activation. However, no statistically significant differences were found between the low-load and high-load scenarios for any haemodynamic measure. The activation patterns were remarkably similar across both environments, suggesting that the aggregated haemodynamic response over the full duration of the tasks did not distinguish between the two levels of complexity. The study concludes that fNIRS is sensitive enough to detect general cortical activation during simulated driving, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for executive function and attention. However, the technique may lack the sensitivity to detect subtle variations in workload when data are averaged over long durations. The authors suggest that the specific demands of the high-load scenario (e.g., intersections) constituted too small a fraction of the total task time to produce a distinct overall signal. Future research should employ event-related analyses focusing on specific driving maneuvers or hazards to better capture transient changes in cognitive load.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-08-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-nvidia | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 11 | 2026-08-11 |
| verify | partial | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified_with_issues.
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- Empirical Findings: physiological data
- Methodological Resource: tool software
- Theoretical Contribution: theory or model