Citation

Huang CS, Pal NR, Chuang CH, Lin CT. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 2015; 9: e570.

Affiliation

Brain Research Center, National Chiao-Tung University Hsinchu, Taiwan ; Institute of Electrical Control Engineering, National Chiao-Tung University Hsinchu, Taiwan ; Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fnhum.2015.00570

PMID

26557069

Abstract

Drowsy driving is a major cause of automobile accidents. Previous studies used neuroimaging based approaches such as analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) activities to understand the brain dynamics of different cortical regions during drowsy driving. However, the coupling between brain regions responding to this vigilance change is still unclear. To have a comprehensive understanding of neural mechanisms underlying drowsy driving, in this study we use transfer entropy, a model-free measure of effective connectivity based on information theory. We investigate the pattern of information transfer between brain regions when the vigilance level, which is derived from the driving performance, changes from alertness to drowsiness.

RESULTS show that the couplings between pairs of frontal, central, and parietal areas increased at the intermediate level of vigilance, which suggests that an enhancement of the cortico-cortical interaction is necessary to maintain the task performance and prevent behavioral lapses. Additionally, the occipital-related connectivity magnitudes monotonically decreases as the vigilance level declines, which further supports the cortical gating of sensory stimuli during drowsiness. Neurophysiological evidence of mutual relationships between brain regions measured by transfer entropy might enhance the understanding of cortico-cortical communication during drowsy driving.

Language: en