{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T04:41:58Z","timestamp":1792039318698,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]],"date-time":"2021-03-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615507200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Motor vehicle operation is a complicated task and substantial cognitive resources are required for safe driving. Experimental paradigms examining cognitive workload using driving simulators often introduce secondary tasks, such as mathematical exercises, or utilise simulated in-vehicle information systems. The effects of manipulating the demands of the primary driving task have not been examined in detail using advanced neuroimaging techniques. This study used a manipulation of the simulated driving environment to test the impact of increased driving complexity on brain activity. Fifteen participants drove in two scenarios reflecting common driving environments differing in the amount of vehicular traffic, frequency of intersections, number of buildings, and speed limit restrictions. Functional near infrared spectroscopy was used to quantify changes in cortical activity; fifty-five optodes were placed over the prefrontal and occipital cortices, commonly assessed areas during driving. Compared to baseline, both scenarios increased oxyhaemoglobin in the bilateral prefrontal cortex and cerebral blood volume in the right prefrontal cortex (all <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> \u2264 0.05). Deoxyhaemoglobin decreased at the bilateral aspects of the prefrontal cortex but overall tended to increase in the medial aspect during both scenarios (both <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> \u2264 0.05). Cerebral oxygen exchange significantly declined at the lateral aspects of the prefrontal cortex, with a small but significant increase seen in the medial aspect (both <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.05). There were no significant differences for oxyhaemoglobin, deoxyhaemoglobin, or cerebral blood volume (all <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &gt; 0.05). This study demonstrates that functional near infrared spectroscopy is capable of detecting changes in cortical activity elicited by simulated driving tasks but may be less sensitive to variations in driving workload aggregated over a longer duration.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0248533","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]],"date-time":"2021-03-12T18:24:15Z","timestamp":1615573455000},"page":"e0248533","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Cerebral haemodynamics during simulated driving: Changes in workload are detectable with functional near infrared spectroscopy"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Peter M.","family":"Bloomfield","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hayden","family":"Green","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9740-0163","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nicholas","family":"Gant","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0248533.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"485","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4613-2173-6_19","volume-title":"Human Behavior and Traffic Safety","author":"JA Michon","year":"1985"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0248533.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2005.04.007","article-title":"Surrogate in-vehicle information systems and driver behaviour in an urban environment: A field study on the effects of visual and cognitive load","volume":"8","author":"V Anttila","year":"2005","journal-title":"Trans Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0248533.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2005.04.012","article-title":"Effects of visual and cognitive load in real and simulated motorway driving","volume":"8","author":"J Engstr\u00f6m","year":"2005","journal-title":"Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol and Behav"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0248533.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"734","DOI":"10.1177\/0018720817690639","article-title":"Effects of cognitive load on driving performance: The cognitive control hypothesis","volume":"59","author":"J Engstr\u00f6m","year":"2017","journal-title":"Hum Factors"},{"key":"pone.0248533.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.01344","article-title":"Mental workload and driving","volume":"5","author":"J Paxion","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"issue":"167","key":"pone.0248533.ref006","article-title":"Assessing the driver\u2019s current level of working memory load with high density functional near-infrared spectroscopy: A realistic driving simulator study","volume":"11","author":"A Unni","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front Hum Neurosci"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0248533.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0156512","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0156512","article-title":"Prefrontal cortex activation and young driver behaviour: A fNIRS study","volume":"11","author":"HJ Foy","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0248533.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.3141\/2138-02","article-title":"Impact of incremental increases in cognitive workload on physiological arousal and performance in young adult drivers","volume":"2138","author":"B Mehler","year":"2009","journal-title":"Transp Res Record"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0248533.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"414","DOI":"10.1177\/0018720813485978","article-title":"Lane keeping under cognitive load: performance changes and mechanisms","volume":"56","author":"J He","year":"2014","journal-title":"Hum Factors"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0248533.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1016\/j.trf.2005.04.002","article-title":"Surrogate in-vehicle information systems and driver behaviour: Effects of visual and cognitive load in simulated rural driving","volume":"8","author":"H, A. 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