Central and Peripheral Activities During Driving with Simulated Cataract Vision

Traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers have become major social problems. We investigated central and autonomic nervous system activities at obstacle events while operating a driving simulator with either normal or simulated cataract vision. Driving with cataract vision acutely increased brain and sympathetic nervous system activities, along with attenuated parasympathetic nervous system activity, in some obstacle events under accumulated eyestrain, which may induce driver distraction. In future research, attention alert systems based on biological features may prove useful for safe driving.