  Applications of neuroimaging methods have substantially contributed to the
scientific understanding of human factors during driving by providing a deeper
insight into the neuro-cognitive aspects of driver brain. This has been
achieved by conducting simulated (and occasionally, field) driving experiments
while collecting driver brain signals of certain types. Here, this sector of
studies is comprehensively reviewed at both macro and micro scales. Different
themes of neuroimaging driving behaviour research are identified and the
findings within each theme are synthesised. The surveyed literature has
reported on applications of four major brain imaging methods. These include
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Electroencephalography (EEG),
Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG),
with the first two being the most common methods in this domain. While
collecting driver fMRI signal has been particularly instrumental in studying
neural correlates of intoxicated driving (e.g. alcohol or cannabis) or
distracted driving, the EEG method has been predominantly utilised in relation
to the efforts aiming at development of automatic fatigue/drowsiness detection
systems, a topic to which the literature on neuro-ergonomics of driving
particularly has shown a spike of interest within the last few years. The
survey also reveals that topics such as driver brain activity in semi-automated
settings or the brain activity of drivers with brain injuries or chronic
neurological conditions have by contrast been investigated to a very limited
extent. Further, potential topics in relation to driving behaviour are
identified that could benefit from the adoption of neuroimaging methods in
future studies.
