Attention and Brain Function Monitor for Elderly Drivers

老年驾驶员注意力和脑功能监测仪

• 批准号: 7107677
• 负责人: ALAN S GEVINS
• 金额: $ 17.76万
• 依托单位: SAM TECHNOLOGY, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2008-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7107677
• 关键词: attention; biomedical automation; brain electrical activity; brain mapping; clinical research; cognition; computer human interaction; computer simulation; electroencephalography; human old age (65+); human subject; injury prevention; method development; monitoring device; neural information processing; neurophysiology; transportation /recreation safety; vehicular accident

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Elderly drivers have a higher fatality rate per mile driven than any group other than males under 25. Relative to those younger drivers, whose accidents are often due to inexperience or risky behaviors, accidents that involve elderly drivers are frequently related to inattention or slowed responses, especially in individuals experiencing side effects from medications or who have chronic health conditions that might affect performance. Given the rapidly increasing proportion of elderly drivers in the population, the issue of motor vehicle accidents in this group is becoming a major public health concern and an important topic for research directed towards better understanding of its causes and at minimizing its consequences. This project aims to develop an enabling technology that will help to fill a crucial current void in knowledge about the brain function of elderly drivers. In particular, progress in the development of methods for brain function monitoring during human-computer interaction has led to the creation of sensitive, highly automated, EEC-based methods suitable for measuring neurophysiologic signals of cognition in adult subjects operating complex, computer-based systems. This project will attempt to generalize such methods to enable brain function monitoring in elderly subjects during simulated driving. Phase I will determine the scientific and technical feasibility of the proposed system. In particular, leveraging our success in other recent projects, we plan to evaluate key remaining scientific and signal processing issues related to use of such methods in the elderly, and to design a prototype measurement device that would be implemented and tested in Phase II. The proposed system would enable cost-effective large scale research studies of how an elderly person's attention is engaged and maintained during different types of driving scenarios, and the patterns of neurophysiologic activity most likely to be associated with accidents or unstable performance. The same underlying signal processing technology could be used to evaluate and refine therapeutic interventions aimed to improve attention and alertness during driving. Given the important role that the ability to operate a motor vehicle often plays in helping seniors to maintain independence and a high quality of life, there is likely to be a significant market for such technology.

描述（由申请人提供）：老年驾驶员每英里驾驶的死亡率高于除 25 岁以下男性以外的任何群体。相对于年轻驾驶员的事故往往是由于经验不足或危险行为造成的，涉及老年驾驶员的事故经常发生与注意力不集中或反应迟缓有关，特别是对于经历药物副作用或患有可能影响表现的慢性健康状况的人。鉴于老年驾驶员在人口中所占比例迅速增加，该群体的机动车辆事故问题正在成为一个主要的公共卫生问题，也是旨在更好地了解其原因并尽量减少其后果的研究的重要课题。该项目旨在开发一种使能技术，有助于填补当前关于老年驾驶员大脑功能的知识空白。特别是，人机交互过程中脑功能监测方法的开发进展导致创建了敏感、高度自动化、基于 EEC 的方法，适用于测量操作复杂的基于计算机的系统的成人受试者的认知神经生理信号。该项目将尝试推广此类方法，以便在模拟驾驶过程中监测老年受试者的大脑功能。第一阶段将确定所提议系统的科学和技术可行性。特别是，利用我们在其他近期项目中取得的成功，我们计划评估与在老年人中使用此类方法相关的关键剩余科学和信号处理问题，并设计将在第二阶段实施和测试的原型测量设备。所提出的系统将能够进行具有成本效益的大规模研究，研究老年人在不同类型的驾驶场景中如何吸引和保持注意力，以及最有可能与事故或不稳定表现相关的神经生理活动模式。相同的基础信号处理技术可用于评估和完善治疗干预措施，旨在提高驾驶过程中的注意力和警觉性。鉴于驾驶机动车辆的能力通常在帮助老年人保持独立和高质量生活方面发挥着重要作用，因此此类技术可能有一个重要的市场。