ABSTRACT

Driver sleepiness is a major public health issue. While medicolegal aspects of this issue are relevant to physicians, no accurate standardized hospital-based diagnostic instruments exist to assess impairment due to neurocognitive impairment. Our group has developed a normative data-base of driving performance and EEG-verified cognitive functioning during intentionally soporific standardized driving simulation testing sessions. To take into account circadian variation in performance, 30-minute simulations were repeated at two-hour intervals (i.e. at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00).Measured variables include drivers’ subjective ratings of mental status, EEG-verified "absence episodes" (AEs), and a variety of driving performance measures.