Consequences of cognitive impairments following traumatic brain injury: Pilot study on visual exploration while driving

Abstract

Primary objective: The aim was to assess the visual exploration of a person suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that visual exploration could be modified as a result of attentional or executive function deficits that are often observed following brain injury.

Research design: This study compared an analysis of eyes movements while driving with data from neuropsychological tests.

Methods and procedures: Five participants suffering from TBI and six control participants took part in this study. All had good driving experience. They were invited to drive on a fixed-base driving simulator. Eye fixations were recorded using an eye tracker. Neuropsychological tests were used to assess attention, working memory, rapidity of information processing and executive functions.

Main outcomes and results: Participants with TBI showed a reduction in the variety of the visual zones explored and a reduction of the distance of exploration. Moreover, neuropsychological evaluation indicates that there were difficulties in terms of divided attention, anticipation and planning.

Conclusions: There is a complementarity of the information obtained. Tests give information about cognitive deficiencies but not about their translation into a dynamic situation. Conversely, visual exploration provides information about the dynamic with which information is picked up in the environment but not about the cognitive processes involved.

• Visual exploration
• neuropsychological evaluation
• driving simulator
• traumatic brain injury
• attention
• executive functions