Attention and driving performance modulations due to anger state: Contribution of electroencephalographic data

Abstract

Driver internal state, including emotion, can have negative impacts on road safety. Studies have shown that an anger state can provoke aggressive behavior and impair driving performance. Apart from driving, anger can also influence attentional processing and increase the benefits taken from auditory alerts. However, to our knowledge, no prior event-related potentials study assesses this impact on attention during simulated driving. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of anger on attentional processing and its consequences on driving performance. For this purpose, 33 participants completed a simulated driving scenario once in an anger state and once during a control session. Results indicated that anger impacted driving performance and attention, provoking an increase in lateral variations while reducing the amplitude of the visual N1 peak. The observed effects were discussed as a result of high arousal and mind-wandering associated with anger. This kind of physiological data may be used to monitor a driver's internal state and provide specific assistance corresponding to their current needs.

P300 Measures and Drive-Related Risks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A summary of the study characteristics is listed in Table 1 . The risk factors involved in the included articles can be summarized in five categories, including distracted driving ( N = 5) [ 12 , 27 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], reduced attention ( N = 5) [ 19 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], increased difficulty in driving ( N = 2) [ 27 , 28 ], alcohol ( N = 2) [ 32 , 39 ], and negative emotion ( N = 2) [ 40 , 41 ]. Distracted driving is a major cause of traffic accidents, which is related to driving behaviors such as using a cell phone and talking to passengers while driving.…”

“…Anger tends to raise an individuals’ arousal level which can lead to aggressive and risky behaviors [ 43 ]. One of the included studies stimulated anger by asking subjects to recall and write down personal experiences that made them angry [ 40 ]. A follow-up questionnaire, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS), was completed to assess the subjects’ anger levels.…”

“…There were 10 studies which provided 18 measures of driving performance in relation to an increased risk level. The risk factors that were investigated in the studies involved distracted driving [ 27 , 32 , 33 ], increased task difficulty in driving [ 27 , 28 ], reduced attention [ 19 , 37 , 38 ], alcohol [ 32 , 39 ], and negative emotion [ 40 , 44 ]. These risk factors influenced the subjects’ performances regarding a variety of measures such as driving error, risky behaviors, collisions, central line crossing, lane deviation, lateral variability, and speed variability.…”

“…The frequencies of risky behaviors, collisions, and central line crossing were counted during the task, with greater frequencies indicating worse performances [ 28 , 44 ]. The lane deviation was calculated by the standard deviation of the distance from the center of the lane [ 32 , 33 , 37 , 40 ]. A larger deviation was interpreted as a worse driving performance.…”

Arousal and Vigilance: The Effects of Physical Exercise and Positive Mood on Attention

“…Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest in the area of attention and arousal. Cognitive scientists have attempted to investigate potential influences of arousal states on attention, employing various psychological and physiological approaches [1,2]. Arousal is a general state of the central nervous system reflected in neural activity, which refers to the organism's disposition to react with varying degrees of energy or Of course, some of the discrepancy among the aforementioned findings may be the result of methodological variability (e.g., exercised intensity, individual differences in aerobic fitness, and the type of cognitive assessments used in the study).…”