Biosignal Detection of Expansion of Body Schema Induced by TENS during Driving

抄録

As one of the various brain functions, an extension of the body image called the body schema (BS) is known. The BS is required to recognize the positions of our body parts and limbs. To utilize the BS, it is necessary to effectively integrate visual information and haptic information. An extension of the BS often occurs in our daily lives where we use a tool or device by hand; hence, the BS also related to the operational skill of vehicles because the feeling of the car width is an extension of the BS itself. With this background, in our previous study, a lanekeeping assistive method using a weak electrical stimulus based on the consideration of BS extension conditions was presented. It was confirmed in that study that the driving skill was improved using this method through experimental verification using a driving simulator. The induction of the BS extension by the external stimulus was, however, not shown directly in the simulator experiment. Therefore, in this paper, characteristic evidence of the BS extension was investigated from biosignal in the brain measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). We monitored the cerebral blood flow (CBF) around the inferior parietal lobule, which is related to the BS. As a result, a significant (p<0.1; Wilcoxon rank-sum) characteristic pattern in the CBF variation was found for all four participants.