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)：除25岁以下男性外，老年司机的每英里死亡率高于其他任何群体。与年轻司机相比，他们的事故往往是由于缺乏经验或危险行为造成的，而涉及老年司机的事故往往与注意力不集中或反应迟缓有关，特别是在经历药物副作用或患有可能影响表现的慢性健康状况的个人中。鉴于老年司机在人口中的比例迅速增加，这一群体中的机动车事故问题正成为一个重大的公共卫生问题，也是旨在更好地了解其原因并将其后果降至最低的重要研究课题。该项目旨在开发一种使能技术，有助于填补目前关于老年司机大脑功能的知识空白。特别是，在人机交互期间脑功能监测方法的发展导致了敏感的、高度自动化的、基于EEC的方法的创建，该方法适用于测量操作复杂的基于计算机的系统的成年受试者的认知神经生理信号。该项目将尝试推广这种方法，以便在模拟驾驶过程中对老年受试者进行脑功能监测。第一阶段将确定拟议系统的科学和技术可行性。特别是，利用我们最近在其他项目中取得的成功，我们计划评估与在老年人中使用这种方法有关的关键剩余科学和信号处理问题，并设计一个原型测量设备，将在第二阶段实施和测试。拟议的系统将使具有成本效益的大规模研究能够实现，研究老年人在不同类型的驾驶场景中如何专注和保持注意力，以及最有可能与事故或不稳定表现有关的神经生理活动模式。同样的基本信号处理技术可用于评估和改进旨在提高驾驶时注意力和警觉性的治疗干预措施。鉴于驾驶汽车的能力通常在帮助老年人保持独立性和高质量生活方面发挥着重要作用，这类技术可能会有一个巨大的市场。