Bibliometric study and critical individual literature review of driving behavior analysis methods based on brain imaging from 1993 to 2022

Abstract

Brain imaging methods have effectively revealed drivers' underlying psychological and neural processes when they perform driving tasks and promote driving behavior research in a more scientific direction. With research no longer limited to indirect inferences about external behavior, some researchers combine behavior and driver brain activity to understand the human factors in driving essentially. However, most researchers in the field of driving behavior still have little understanding of how brain imaging methods are used. This paper aims to review and analyze the application of brain imaging methods in driving behavior research, including bibliometric analysis and an individual critical literature review. Regarding bibliometric analysis, this field's knowledge structure and development trend are described macroscopically, using data such as annual distribution of publications, country/region statistics and partnerships, publication sources, literature co-citation analysis, and keyword co-occurrence analysis. In a review of the individual critical literature, eight research themes were identified that examined driving behavior using brain imaging methods: substance consumption, fatigue or sleep deprivation, workload, distraction, aging brains, brain impairment and other diseases, automated/semi-automated environments, emotions influence and risk-taking, and general driving process. In addition, the study reports on six brain imaging methods and their advantages and disadvantages, involving electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The contribution of this study is twofold. The first part relates to providing the researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the field's knowledge structure and development trends. The second part goes beyond reviewing and analyzing previous studies, and the discussion section points out the directions and challenges for future research.