Home › Neuroscience › Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects
Neuroscience JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Driving Simulation in the Clinic: Testing Visual Exploratory Behavior in Daily Life Activities in Patients with Visual Field Defects

DOI: 10.3791/4427-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Set up and calibrate eye-tracking equipment for clinical visual assessment
  • ✓ Administer driving simulation protocol to evaluate compensatory gaze strategies
  • ✓ Analyze eye and head movement data to quantify visual exploration patterns
  • ✓ Interpret driving performance metrics in patients with visual field defects
Protocol

Patients with visual deficits after stroke report about different constraints in daily life most likely due to variable compensatory strategies, which are difficult to differentiate in clinical routine. We present a clinical set-up which allows measurement of different compensatory head- and eye-movement-strategies and evaluating their effects on driving performance.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~45–60 min per patient (calibration, simulation, data analysis)

Steps

1
Prepare study position and patient setup

Position patient in the driving simulator seat and adjust head rest, monitor distance, and seating ergonomics to ensure stable eye-tracking conditions and comfortable posture during the protocol.

▶ 02:09
2
Calibrate eye tracker to patient

Perform point-of-gaze calibration using standardized target array to ensure accurate tracking of eye and head movements throughout the simulation task.

▶ 03:19
3
Execute driving simulation protocol

Guide patient through standardized driving scenarios in the simulator while recording real-time eye and head movement data to capture compensatory gaze strategies during vehicle operation.

▶ 04:50
4
Analyze eye and head movement data

Process recorded gaze trajectories and head position to quantify visual exploration patterns, fixation duration, and compensatory head turns relative to driving performance metrics.

▶ 07:19
5
Interpret results in clinical context

Compare compensatory strategy profiles and driving performance outcomes between patients with visual field defects to characterize individual differences in functional adaptation and identify clinically relevant constraints.

▶ 08:18
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