Emotion induction strategies in driving simulator for validated experiments

Nobari, Khazar Dargahi; Velasquez, Caitlin; Bertram, Torsten · 2021 · Crossref

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001156

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This paper addresses the challenge of inducing realistic emotional states in drivers within virtual environments, a critical step for studying human factors in road safety and automated vehicle interaction. While real-world experiments involving negative emotional states pose safety risks, driving simulators often fail to evoke strong emotions due to reduced realism. The study aims to evaluate and compare three distinct strategies for emotion induction—monotonous, event-driven, and combination—to determine which methods most effectively trigger specific emotions in a simulated driving context. The researchers conducted an experiment using a static driving simulator equipped with facial and audio recording capabilities. Twenty participants (15 males, 5 females, aged 22–30) completed seven trials each, designed to induce neutral, happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, and frustration. The scenarios utilized three structural forms: monotonous (maintaining a consistent environment, such as weather or music), event-driven (relying on specific, sudden occurrences), and combination (mixing environmental factors with discrete events). Emotion assessment was multi-modal, utilizing the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) questionnaire for dimensional data, oral surveys for discrete labels, and observer analysis of recorded facial expressions. The study also established a mapping framework to translate continuous SAM scores into discrete emotional categories based on prior literature. The results revealed significant differences in the efficacy of the induction strategies. Event-driven scenarios were the most effective, with the surprise induction scenario achieving a 94% success rate. Combination methods also performed well, with fear induction reaching 79% success and anger induction at 61%. In contrast, monotonous strategies were largely ineffective, with success rates below 50% for neutral (30%), happiness (45%), and sadness (25%) scenarios. The frustration scenario, which relied heavily on monotonous elements despite being classified as a combination, yielded only a 44% success rate. Specific events, such as flashing logos or sudden fog changes, proved more potent than continuous stimuli like background music or weather settings. The study concludes that event-driven strategies are superior for eliciting strong emotions in driving simulator experiments compared to monotonous environmental adjustments. The authors recommend avoiding repeated events and short video clips, which showed lower effectiveness. These findings provide practical guidelines for designing validated experiments in human factors research, emphasizing the need for dynamic, event-based stimuli to overcome the limitations of virtual environments in replicating real-world emotional responses.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-09; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• simulator validity fidelity
• affect mood
• music audio mood
• simulator sickness

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Methodological Resource: tool software, validation psychometrics
• Theoretical Contribution: computational model