An integrated device to evaluate a driver’s functional state

In the field of cognitive ergonomics, research on car drivers requires multimodal in-vehicle systems for recording not only driving-related behavior, but also contextual information from their surroundings. In addition, reliable information concerning a driver’s functional state should be obtained. In this article, we describe an integrated device simultaneously recording specific physiological data, video recordings of the driver and environment, parameters from the vehicle, and contextual data. Physiological signals from the autonomic nervous system provide objective and quantitative information on the driver’s alertness and his/her ability to process specific driving-related stimuli or other nonspecific information. Consequently, recorded physiological responses can be related to individual driving events. Electrodermal and cardiac activities are sensitive to time-dependent variations in arousal level and to certain external stimuli, so there is great interest in studying drivers’ behavior via measured physiological signals that have been established as suitable behavioral indicators. The present integrated device is capable of processing the relevant indices from raw measured data in real time.

[1]  D. Bugental,et al.  Social cognitions as organizers of autonomic and affective responses to social challenge. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[2]  Bor-Shong Liu,et al.  In-vehicle workload assessment: effects of traffic situations and cellular telephone use. , 2006, Journal of safety research.

[3]  A. Dittmar,et al.  The ohmic perturbation duration, an original temporal index to quantify electrodermal responses , 1995, Behavioural Brain Research.

[4]  W Boucsein,et al.  Effects of stimulus intensity, risetime, and duration on autonomic and behavioral responding: implications for the differentiation of orienting, startle, and defense responses. , 1999, Psychophysiology.

[5]  Janick Naveteur,et al.  The influence of anxiety on electrodermal responses to distractors. , 2005, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[6]  Martin Page,et al.  Galvanic skin responses from asking stressful questions. , 2007, British journal of nursing.

[7]  M. Dawson,et al.  The electrodermal system , 2007 .

[8]  D. Fotiadis,et al.  An integrated telemedicine platform for the assessment of affective physiological states , 2006, Diagnostic pathology.

[9]  Stephane Champely,et al.  Assessing Workload through Physiological Measurements in Bus Drivers Using an Automated System during Docking , 2003, Hum. Factors.

[10]  A. Tonkin,et al.  Poincaré plot of heart rate variability allows quantitative display of parasympathetic nervous activity in humans. , 1996, Clinical science.

[11]  E. N. Sokolov,et al.  Habituation of phasic and tonic components of the orienting reflex. , 1993, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[12]  Alberto Malliani,et al.  The Pattern of Sympathovagal Balance Explored in the Frequency Domain. , 1999, News in physiological sciences : an international journal of physiology produced jointly by the International Union of Physiological Sciences and the American Physiological Society.

[13]  Jennifer Healey,et al.  SmartCar: detecting driver stress , 2000, Proceedings 15th International Conference on Pattern Recognition. ICPR-2000.

[14]  A. Schwerdtfeger,et al.  Trait anxiety and autonomic indicators of the processing of threatening information: A cued S1–S2 paradigm , 2006, Biological Psychology.

[15]  Marimuthu Palaniswami,et al.  Do existing measures of Poincare plot geometry reflect nonlinear features of heart rate variability? , 2001, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[16]  I. Maltzman,et al.  Novelty and significance as determiners of the GSR index of the orienting reflex , 1982 .

[17]  P. Venables,et al.  Publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. , 1981 .

[18]  Robert J Barry,et al.  Stimulus significance effects in habituation of the phasic and tonic orienting reflex , 2004, Integrative physiological and behavioral science : the official journal of the Pavlovian Society.

[19]  Jennifer Healey,et al.  Detecting stress during real-world driving tasks using physiological sensors , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

[20]  Yoshitaka Nishiyama,et al.  Physiological evaluation of effect on driver's mental work load for a newly-developed semi-automatic transmission system , 1996 .

[21]  P. Venables,et al.  A major effect of recording site on measurement of electrodermal activity. , 1992, Psychophysiology.

[22]  V V Dementienko,et al.  Automatic checkout systems to monitor driver's vigilance. , 2001, Critical reviews in biomedical engineering.

[23]  C. Collet,et al.  Stroop color–word test, arousal, electrodermal activity and performance in a critical driving situation , 2005, Biological Psychology.

[24]  Johan Engström,et al.  Effects of visual and cognitive load in real and simulated motorway driving , 2005 .

[25]  G. Berntson,et al.  Handbook of Psychophysiology: Cardiovascular Psychophysiology , 2007 .

[26]  B. Wallin,et al.  The sympathetic nervous system in man — aspects derived from microelectrode recordings , 1986, Trends in Neurosciences.