Neuroscience, Sensation, and Perception of Driving
Ashley M. Farr
Salt Lake Community College
When stressed, many people resort to withdrawing themselves from stressful situations.
Others find activities to distract them and keep their mind busy; such activities could be
watching television, listening to music, going for a run, or talking to a loved one. I love to drive.
I sometimes turn up my music, or roll the windows down and open the sunroof. Driving, not
referring to daily commutes in traffic, clears my mind and gives a sense of freedom and
exhilaration. Quite an intricate process takes from place when I first get in the car to when I
return home.
First, my eyes are capturing the scene. Cones within the retina detect light, producing an
upside down image for my brain to flip back right side up, which then construct a picture within
the occipital lobe. It is extremely important for everything to be working properly and
proportionately, otherwise vision will be distorted. “If your eyeballs are a little too long or a little
too short, the lens will not focus images properly on the retina. If the eyeball is too long, images
are focused in front of the retina, leading to nearsightedness..” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wagner,
2011). Using these images, I can find depth, texture, interposition, and relative heights within an
environment. Alternatively, I create a pathway, or mental map, of where I will steer my car for
the next few miles ahead.
When my windows are rolled down and the sunroof is open, I hear the sound of my
engine roaring through rotations whilst picking up speed. Pitch and loudness of the noises create
timbre. Sound runs through a series of obstacles through the human ear; the auditory canal
channels sound to the eardrum, intensifying vibrations through ossicles, semicircular canals, and
the cochlea to send impulses through the auditory nerve. In turn, action potentials are released
through neurons ending in the temporal lobe where sounds are decoded. This happens relatively
quickly, as “individual neurons can produce action potentials at a maximum rate of only about
1,000 spikes per second” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2011).
One can only image that if loud music is blaring, it can be distracting to the driver. A
study conducted in the Scandavian Journal of Psychology (Cassidy, 2012) assessed the effects of
different intensities of music played while an individual takes part in a driving simulation game.
Researchers proposed that high-arousal music would distract the driver and promote mistakes.
Indeed, results indicated that high-arousal music played while driving increases the rate of
inaccuracy of tasks: “Overall, performance was significantly most inaccurate when exposed to
high-arousal music in comparison to all other sound conditions, p < 0.001, for all.” (GG Cassidy
& RAR MacDonald, 2012). This indication worries me; perhaps driving while blasting loud
music isn’t a wise choice.
Actually steering a wheel and pressing on the gas pedal can not compare to any other
sensation of driving. It is, in my opinion, the most satisfactory feeling.
“Touch begins with the transduction of skin sensations into neural signals. Like cells in
the retina of each eye, touch receptors have receptive fields that, when stimulated, cause
that cell’s response to change. The representation of touch in the brain follows a
topographic scheme, much as vision and hearing do.” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner,
2011).
Several contributions make feelings of touch possible. Small neurons, called sensory neurons,
collect stimuli and take the information received to the spinal cord. Interneurons connect sensory
and motor neurons. The spinal cord and central nervous system house the motor neurons, which
pick up the information and take messages to muscles to move. The signals go through two
distinct stages: conduction and transmission. Conduction takes electric signals through neurons,
cell bodies, dendrites, and to the axon. Transmission sends signals from neuron to neuron
through synapses in the brain, or the space between an axon of one neuron to a dendrite/cell body
of another neuron. Adults have around 100-500 trillion synaptic junctions (Schacter, Gilbert, &
Wegner, 2011).
The cell body keeps cells living, and takes care of tasks/information. “Functions such as
protein synthesis, energy production, and metabolism take place here.” (Schacter, Gilbert, &
Wegner, 2011). Inside each neuron, a nucleus containing one’s DNA is covered in a membrane
to keep track of particles that enter and exit the cell. Neurons also have dendrites and axons.
Dendrites collect other messages through synapses. Axons, on the other hand, follow the same
regime, but reversed: sending signals to neurons, muscles, and glands. Axons vary in length, and
can stretch up to several meters long. Glial cells are another type of brain cell; they function as a
garbage man of the nervous system by eating dead neurons and producing protective myelin
sheaths around neurons.
Neurotransmitters are the “messages” transmitted from neuron to neuron.
Neurotransmitters cross the synaptic junction to receptor sites, affecting thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors. Acetylcholine is a type of neurotransmitter that activates motor control such as muscle
contractions, as well as learning, dreaming, memory, etc. Dopamine is another transmitter that
aids in motor control, as well as motivation, pleasure, arousal, etc. Glutamate is an excitatory
neurotransmitter that stimulates the brain. GABA stops the firing of Glutamate. Norepinephrine,
or nonadrenaline, is another neurotransmitter in charge of arousal and mood. Serotonin regulates
sleep, wakefulness, eating, etc. Endorphins are calming chemicals which usually take action in
pain pathways. Of the many neurotransmitters, acetylcholine, dopamine, and some glutamate are
fired in my brain while driving. These neurotransmitters are released, making me feel good after
a stressful day, when I go for a drive.
Processes taking place when driving as a stress reliever are much more complicated than
one can imagine. Multiple contributions of the body aid in making one feel good. “Driving is
such a pervasive activity and involves such a rich diversity of psychological processes” for
example visual perceptions, hearing, touching, and even smelling, “..drivers have multiple goals
— getting to a destination at one level, overtaking a slower vehicle at another level, etc. The
Four processes operate at multiple levels: (i) the detection of environmental constraints that may
interfere with currently active goals; (ii) the appraisal of these changes; (iii) the selection of an
appropriate response to the changes; and (iv) implementation of the selected response.”
(Geoffery, 2002)
References
Cassidy, GG, and RAR MacDonald. "The Effects of Music on Time Perception and Performance of a Driving
Game." Scandavian Journal of Psychology 51.6 (2012): 455-64. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Apr.
2013.
Schacter, Daniel L., Daniel Todd. Gilbert, and Daniel M. Wegner. Introducing Psychology. New York, NY:
Worth, 2011. Print.
Underwood, Geoffrey. "Understanding Driving: Applying Cognitive Psychology to a Complex Everyday
Task." Applied Cognitive Psychology 16.3 (2002): 363-65. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.