Fatigue neurophysiology in professional and non-professional drivers

To date, no study has investigated different phases of fatigue (transitional: early, transitional to post transitional: medium and post-transitional: extreme) between professional and non-professional drivers. Therefore, the aim was to compare lectroencephalography (EEG) changes during fatigue in twenty professional and twenty nonprofessional drivers during a driver simulator task. EEG delta increased during early fatigue in professionals more so than in non-professionals. Theta and alpha increased in professionals only. During medium fatigue, theta increased in both groups. Alpha increased in professional drivers in both the medium and extreme phases and in non-professionals in the extreme phase, while beta increased most in the medium phase. The results are discussed in light of driver fatigue management and developing a fatigue countermeasure device.