Potenziamento neurocognitivo, mindfulness e comportamenti di guida: riduzione dello stress, aumento dell’efficacia attentiva e controllo della distraibilità nei drivers

[Autom. eng. transl.] National statistics have shown that distraction is the most frequent cause of road accidents. From a psychological point of view, driving behavior is the result of the interaction between multiple psychological and neurophysiological variables, such as stress load and cognitive functions, and other situational factors, such as weather and traffic conditions. Higher levels of cognitive functioning and lower stress loads are associated with more functional driving in terms of safety as they contribute to reducing distractibility and risk-taking. From the literature it emerges that training with mindfulness techniques mediated by wearable devices are effective in terms of neurocognitive enhancement and affective and stress regulation. The increase in attentional regulation ability and the decrease in perceived stress detected following these trainings, could be positively reflected in driving practices, with the possible reduction and prevention of dysfunctional behaviors. The aim of this research is to test the effectiveness of an integration protocol between mindfulness practices and wearable neurotechnologies that perform the function of neurofeedback on a sample of drivers, observing their impact on driving behavior. Fifty participants without clinically significant levels of stress were randomly assigned to the experimental and active control group. The experimental condition consisted of a 21-day NeuroFeedback Training (NFT) mindfulness with incremental duration sessions. A pre- and post-treatment analysis included the integration of three orders of multilevel measures: psychometric; behavioral, neuropsychological and fitness to drive; neurophysiological, both central and autonomic. In particular, tools such as the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, and performance tools (such as a Go / No-Go task in immersive virtual reality or the Active Box device for detecting driving behavior), have been used to evaluate the actual driving behavior in everyday life. A reduction in fatigue, perceived stress and violations behind the wheel emerge in the experimental group compared to the control group in the post-treatment phase. In addition, an increase in indices of enhancement of attention responsive driving skills, such as an increase in event-related electrophysiological potential (EEG) N200 in frontal areas during an attention task and an increase in the EEG AlphaBeta index has been detected at neurophysiological level ratio in parietal areas in rest condition. Overall, the group assigned to the condition of mindfulness with NFT reports an increase in neural and behavioral efficiency in terms of speed of attention orientation, information processing, executive control and reduction of perceived fatigue and stress while driving.