Principal Investigators: Thomas Seacrist, MBE & Elizabeth Walshe, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Recognition errors – such as distraction, inadequate surveillance, and inattention – continue to be the leading cause of crashes among young drivers. These errors are largely attributable to limited capacity frontal-lobe cognitive abilities, some of which are still maturing through adolescence and into adulthood. This study builds upon prior CChIPS work utilizing millisecond-sensitive neuroimaging methods – magnetoencephalography (MEG)  – and aims to:

1. identify eye-tracking metrics that track MEG-recorded frontal lobe responses for cognitive control/demand during an established braking task;
2. identify eye-tracking metrics that proxy increased cognitive control on a more cognitively challenging lead car braking task;
3. compare these eye-tracking metrics and frontal lobe responses between healthy teens and teens with impaired cognitive control, specifically teens with autism spectrum disorder.

This project is currently underway. Further information will be added in late 2023 following project completion.