PROLONGED DRIVING UNDER MONOTONOUS CONDITIONS DECREASES THE VIGILANCE OF THE HUMAN CONTROLLER AND HIS PERFORMANCE OF THE DRIVING TASK. VARIATIONS OF HIS CONTROL ACTIVITY (VEHICLE RELATED SIGNALS) WERE MEASURED WITH THE GOAL OF RECEIVING CRITERIA FOR A WARNING DEVICE, WHICH COULD IMPROVE THE ACTIVE SAFETY OF TODAY'S TRAFFIC. THE INVESTIGATIONS WERE PERFORMED ON A RURAL CIRCUIT AND ON A DRIVING SIMULATOR; THE CONTROL VARIABLE FOR DECREASING VIGILANCE WAS THE ELECTRO-ENCEPHALOGRAM OF THE TEST SUBJECTS. FACTOR ANALYSIS AND CANONICAL CORRELATION WERE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATION BETWEEN BOTH DATA SETS. THE EEG PARAMETERS SHOWED A FRONTAL DISPLACEMENT UNDER PROLONGED DRIVING: THUS A DECREASING VIGILANCE COULD BE CONFIRMED. SIMULTANEOUSLY THE SUBJECTS' CONTROL ACTIVITY IN THE TRACKING TASK BECAME COARSER. THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL ACTIVITY - WHICH IS A RELATIVELY FREE CONTROL VARIABLE - DECREASED WITH THE TEST DURATION DESPITE CONSTANT DRIVING SPEED. THIS WAS EXPLAINED WITH INCREASED RISK-ACCEPTANCE AT DECREASED PERFORMANCE OR DECREASED VIGILANCE. (Author/publisher).
Abstract