Assessing Drivers’ Vigilance State During Monotonous Driving

Abstract

The differential effects of three hours of monotonous daytime driving on subjective (sleepiness, inattention, monotony), performance (choice reaction time), and physiological (EEG alpha power, P300-amplitude, heart rate) vigilance measures were examined. A linear degradation of drivers’ subjective state, mean long reaction times (as opposed to short ones), P300-amplitude and parietal alpha power with time spent on the highway was identified. An improvement of the subjective measures towards the end of the driving task was not accompanied by any improvement in performance or physiological measures. This dissociation of self-assessment and objective vigilance measures has important implications for the design of modern driver assistant systems that aim to adapt to the driver’s state.