An event‐based magnetoencephalography study of simulated driving: Establishing a novel paradigm to probe the dynamic interplay of executive and motor function

Walshe, Elizabeth A; Roberts, Timothy P. L.; McIntosh, Chelsea Ward; Winston, Flaura Koplin; Romer, Dan; Gaetz, William

doi:10.1002/hbm.26197

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 73 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Generally, our analysis of theta, alpha, and beta bands yielded the expected results across all participant groups ( Figs. 4 , 5 ), conforming to demonstrated effects in a variety of traditional experimental paradigms ( Pfurtscheller and Lopes da Silva, 1999 ), as well as recent, naturalistic paradigms ( Walshe et al, 2023 ): When a stimulus is presented to participants and they respond, theta power increases and alpha and beta power decreases.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Oscillatory Neural Correlates of Police Firearms Decision-Making in Virtual Reality

Alexander,

Kelly,

Wang

et al. 2024

eNeuro

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated the neural signatures of expert decision making in the context of police training in a virtual reality-based shoot/don’t shoot scenario. Police officers can use stopping force against a perpetrator, which may require using a firearm and each decision made by an officer to discharge their firearm or not has substantial implications. Therefore it is important to understand the cognitive and underlying neurophysiological processes that lead to such a decision. We used virtual reality-based simulations to elicit ecologically valid behaviour from Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) in the UK and matched novices in a Shoot/Don’t Shoot task and recorded electroencephalography concurrently. We found that AFOs had consistently faster response times than novices, suggesting our task was sensitive to their expertise. To investigate differences in decision making processes under varying levels of threat and expertise, we analysed electrophysiological signals originating from the anterior cingulate cortex. In line with similar response inhibition tasks, we found greater increases in pre-response theta power when participants inhibited the response to shoot when under no threat as compared to shooting. Most importantly, we showed that when preparing against threat, theta power increase was greater for experts than novices, suggesting that differences in performance between experts and novices are due to their greater orientation towards threat. Additionally, shorter beta-rebounds suggest that experts were “ready for action” sooner. More generally, we demonstrate that investigation of expert decision making should incorporate naturalistic stimuli and an appropriate control group to enhance validity.Significance statementThis study aims to unravel the complexities of how expertise affects neural processes during uncertain scenarios by investigating police decision making. We present our variant on shoot/don’t shoot tasks which was co-developed with police instructors to allow graded levels of force to elicit realistic responses. We show that experts exhibit superior performance in this virtual reality-based task and that this is associated with greater modulation of frontal midline theta activity prior to a decision. Understanding the intricacies of police decision making–especially concerning the use of firearms–is vital to inform policy effectively. Further, the naturalistic imaging methods employed here hold broader significance for neuroscientists aiming to investigate real world behaviour.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Oscillatory Neural Correlates of Police Firearms Decision-Making in Virtual Reality

Alexander,

Kelly,

Wang

et al. 2024

eNeuro

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

An event‐based magnetoencephalography study of simulated driving: Establishing a novel paradigm to probe the dynamic interplay of executive and motor function

Walshe

Roberts

McIntosh

et al. 2023

Human Brain Mapping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is particularly well‐suited to the study of human motor cortex oscillatory rhythms and motor control. However, the motor tasks studied to date are largely overly simplistic. This study describes a new approach: a novel event‐based simulated drive made operational via MEG compatible driving simulator hardware, paired with differential beamformer methods to characterize the neural correlates of realistic, complex motor activity. We scanned 23 healthy individuals aged 16–23 years (mean age = 19.5, SD = 2.5; 18 males and 5 females, all right‐handed) who completed a custom‐built repeated trials driving scenario. MEG data were recorded with a 275‐channel CTF, and a volumetric magnetic resonance imaging scan was used for MEG source localization. To validate this paradigm, we hypothesized that pedal‐use would elicit expected modulation of primary motor responses beta‐event‐related desynchronization (B‐ERD) and movement‐related gamma synchrony (MRGS). To confirm the added utility of this paradigm, we hypothesized that the driving task could also probe frontal cognitive control responses (specifically, frontal midline theta [FMT]). Three of 23 participants were removed due to excess head motion (>1.5 cm/trial), confirming feasibility. Nonparametric group analysis revealed significant regions of pedal‐use related B‐ERD activity (at left precentral foot area, as well as bilateral superior parietal lobe: p < .01 corrected), MRGS (at medial precentral gyrus: p < .01 corrected), and FMT band activity sustained around planned braking (at bilateral superior frontal gyrus: p < .01 corrected). This paradigm overcomes the limits of previous efforts by allowing for characterization of the neural correlates of realistic, complex motor activity in terms of brain regions, frequency bands and their dynamic temporal interplay.

show abstract

An event‐based magnetoencephalography study of simulated driving: Establishing a novel paradigm to probe the dynamic interplay of executive and motor function

Cited by 2 publications

References 73 publications

Oscillatory Neural Correlates of Police Firearms Decision-Making in Virtual Reality

Oscillatory Neural Correlates of Police Firearms Decision-Making in Virtual Reality

An event‐based magnetoencephalography study of simulated driving: Establishing a novel paradigm to probe the dynamic interplay of executive and motor function

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About