Reliability of measuring brain activity to detect driver fatigue

To date no-study has tested the reproducibility of electroencephalography (EEG) changes that occur during driver fatigue. For the EEG changes to be useful in the development of a fatigue countermeasure device the EEG response during each onset period of fatigue in individuals needs to be reproducible. It should be noted that fatigue during driving is not a continuous process but consists of successive episodes of microsleeps where the subject may go in and out of a fatigue state. Studies have shown slow wave EEG activity such as delta and theta to be associated with fatigue. The aim of the present study was to investigate the reproducibility of the EEG changes during fatigue in professional drivers in order to identify the feasibility of the EEG measure for a fatigue countermeasure device. Methods Twenty professional drivers were assessed during two separate sessions of a driver simulator task. EEG, eye activity and behavioural measurements of fatigue were obtained during the driving task. Results The results showed significant reproducibility for the EEG delta and theta bands (r >0.95) and alph and beta bands (r >0.60) in the drivers. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the delta and alpha magnitudes across the entire brain during the transitional phase to fatigue. Whereas, delta and alpha were found to be more variable (p