Abstract
A major cause of fatal traffic accidents is careless inattentive driving. It has been demonstrated in many studies that sensory stimuli such as sound, smell, and vibration, are often effective, but their effects do not last long. This is mainly because our sensory information processing systems are prone to habituate quickly to a prolonged stimulus. We hypothesized that voluntary manoeuver in response to a sensory stimulus has a potential of longer lasting effects since not only the sensory system, but the sensory-motor transformation and motor systems are activated as well. In addition, if we provide rewards or punishments according to driving performance, brain areas involved in the reward system is also stimulated, which is expected to maintain alertness and attention for long enough time. In this study, during driving simulation, we evaluated deviation of the car from the center of the lane as a driving performance index together with the biological signals that are known to reflect alertness of human subjects. We found significant improvement in alertness level and driving performance in the reward/punishment conditions in comparison with control condition.
