A critical part of traffic safety is a driver’s ability to detect and respond to emergency roadway hazards. This thesis uses eye movements and motor responses to divide driver perception-response time in three stages: perception, inspection, and movement time. The effects of cognitive distraction and repeated exposure on each stage were investigated for three distinct hazards (left-turning vehicle, pedestrian, right-incursion vehicle). In general, there were varying effects of cognitive distraction observed depending on the hazard being responded to. Cognitive distraction resulted in a significant increase in perception times for the pedestrian and right-incursion vehicle hazards, whereas cognitive distraction resulted in significantly longer inspection times for the left-turning vehicle hazard. When considering the effect of repeated scenario exposure, perception times were the most greatly affected. Perception times were significantly shorter during the second exposure to the left-turning vehicle hazard in the baseline condition, and for all hazards in the distraction condition.

Submitted by BETHANYA GRAICK CARIZIO null (bethanya.carizio@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-04-18T04:21:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_BETHANYA_G_CARIZIO_PPG_DESIGN.pdf: 4436212 bytes, checksum: f2f9fe75b5430036c2548a2454b777fd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-04-19T13:26:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 carizio_bc_me_bauru.pdf: 4436212 bytes, checksum: f2f9fe75b5430036c2548a2454b777fd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-19T13:26:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 carizio_bc_me_bauru.pdf: 4436212 bytes, checksum: f2f9fe75b5430036c2548a2454b777fd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-17 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O uso de telefone celular durante a condução de automóvel é uma causa importante de risco aumentado de acidentes. Distratores, como conversar ao telefone celular no modo viva-voz ou segurando o equipamento na mão, interferem no mecanismo atencional, e tendem a perturbar o comportamento perceptual e motor dos motoristas. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito distrator de usar o telefone celular (condições viva-voz e na mão) sobre o comportamento perceptivo-motor de motoristas durante a direção simulada de automóvel. Dez motoristas novatos e dez experientes tiveram a cinemática de olhos e cabeça mensurada enquanto dirigiam em um simulador de direção sob condições de 80-120 km/h de velocidade, luz do dia, trajetória linear e baixo nível de tráfego. De modo geral, os resultados mostraram que o número de fixações aumentou, o tempo relativo de fixação diminuiu, a variância horizontal e vertical do olhar, a variância da posição e da orientação da cabeça aumentou durante as condições de uso do celular viva-voz e na mão, comparadas à condição controle (sem conversa). Efeitos dos grupos de experiência não foram observados. Em suma, conversar ao telefone celular tende a perturbar a atenção devido à diminuição da estabilidade de olho e da cabeça; consequentemente, à obtenção de informação visual relevante para a segurança da direção. Áreas de estudo como o design ergonômico podem efetivamente auxiliar o planejamento de equipamentos e de aparelhos que atendem às demandas cognitivas, perceptuais e motoras dos motoristas, contribuindo para a segurança no trânsito. / Using a mobile phone while driving a car is an important cause of increase ed risk of accidents. Distractors such as talking on a cell phone in speakerphone mode or holding the device in hand interfere in the attentional mechanism and tend to disrupt drivers’ perceptual and motor behavior. The aim of this study was to evaluate the distractor effect of using a cell phone (speakerphone mode and in hand conditions) on drivers’ perceptual-motor behavior during simulated car driving. Ten novices and ten experienced drivers had eyes and head kinematics measured while driving in a driver simulator under conditions of 80-120 Km/h velocity, day light, linear trajectory, and low traffic level. Generally, results showed that number of fixations increased, relative fixation time decreased, horizontal and vertical gaze variance increased, and variance of head position and orientation increased during both speakerphone mode and in hand conditions of mobile phone use, as compared to the control (no talking) condition. Effects of experience group were not observed. In sum, talking on a mobile phone tend to disturb attention due to decrease in eyes and head stability and, consequently, pickup of relevant visual information for safety driving. Areas of study as ergonomic design can effectively help in the planning of equipment or devices that meet the cognitive, perceptual and motor drivers’ demands, contributing to road safety.

abstract: Research on priming has shown that exposure to the concept of fast food can have an effect on human behavior by inducing haste and impatience (Zhong & E. DeVoe, 2010). This research suggests that thinking about fast food makes individuals impatient and strengthens their desire to complete tasks such as reading and decision making as quickly and efficiently as possible. Two experiments were conducted in which the effects of fast food priming were examined using a driving simulator. The experiments examined whether fast food primes can induce impatient driving. In experiment 1, 30 adult drivers drove a course in a driving simulator after being exposed to images by rating aesthetics of four different logos. Experiment 1 did not yield faster driving speeds nor an impatient and faster break at the yellow light in the fast food logo prime condition. In experiment 2, 30 adult drivers drove the same course from experiment 1. Participants did not rate logos on their aesthetics prior to the drive, instead billboards were included in the simulation that had either fast food or diner logos. Experiment 2 did not yielded faster driving speeds, however there was a significant effect of faster breaking and a higher number of participants running the yellow light. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Applied Psychology 2014

Os simuladores de direção são ferramentas de pesquisa que permitem estudar o comportamento do condutor em diversos cenários de direção, de forma rápida, segura e econômica. Este estudo faz parte de um projeto de pesquisa que visa utilizar essas ferramentas na avaliação de projetos de sinalização, antes da sua implantação na rodovia. Em particular, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar como os condutores percebem a sinalização vertical dentro de um ambiente simulado de direção, apoiado no uso de um sistema de rastreio do olhar. O andamento da pesquisa abrangeu a montagem do simulador e do sistema de rastreio do olhar, a geração do ambiente simulado de direção, o experimento no simulador para medir a percepção da sinalização dentro do ambiente virtual, e por último, a análise e validação dos resultados. No experimento, 21 condutores dirigiram em um trecho de 10 quilômetros da rodovia BR-116 que possui 31 sinais de trânsito, para mensurar a distância de percepção, o número de fixações e o tempo de observação da sinalização, assim como a variação da velocidade após percepção da mesma. A percepção da sinalização dentro do ambiente virtual foi semelhante à reportada na literatura para estudos em estradas: em média, os condutores perceberam um de cada três sinais, o tempo de observação foi de 360 milissegundos, a distância de percepção foi de 100 metros e somente a percepção dos limites de velocidade foi relevante no comportamento dos condutores. Adicionalmente, obteve-se uma validade relativa entre as velocidades no simulador e as velocidades de operação medidas no trecho estudado. Nesse sentido, os resultados deste estudo sustentam a viabilidade e a validade do simulador de direção na avaliação de projetos de sinalização. Finalmente, como contribuição adicional, propuseram-se medidas para aprimorar a sinalização no trecho estudado e o realismo do simulador de direção. / Driving simulators are research tools that allow studying driver behavior on several driving scenarios, in a safely and cost-effective way. This study pertains to a research project whose goal is to use these tools in the assessment of road signage projects, before their implementation on roadway. In particular, the goal of this study was to analyze how drivers perceive road signs within a simulated driving environment, supported by an eye tracking system. The research development included the assembling of the driving simulator and the eye tracking system, the generation of the simulated environment, an experiment to measure the signaling perception within that environment, and finally, the analysis and validation of the results. In the experiment, twenty-one drivers drove over a ten-kilometer virtual segment of the BR-116 roadway, that has thirty-one traffic signs, in order to measure the number of eye fixations, the perception distance and the observation time over each sign, as well as, the speed change after its perception. The perception of the road signs within the virtual environment was similar to that reported in the literature for on-road studies: in average, the drivers perceived one-third of the traffic signs, the mean observation time was 360 milliseconds, the mean perception distance was 100 meters and only the speed limit signs perception was relevant on the drivers behavior. Furthermore, it was observed a relative validity between the driving simulator speeds and the actual operating speeds in the studied segment. In that sense, this study shows the feasibility and validity of using driving simulators to assess road signage projects. Finally, some countermeasures were proposed in order to enhance both the road signaling of the studied segment and the road signs perception within the simulated driving environment.

Realism is a very sought feature in interactive driving simulators for traffic studies, since a nonrealistic simulation could produce non-realistic human drivers behaviours. Since cars driven by artificial intelligence (AI) are one of the main components of a traffic simulation, they play an important role in making up the overall sense of realism. A good understanding of how the AI influences human drivers is thus important in avoiding biases in traffic studies with simulators, and might also come useful in simulators for traffic education, in order to induce certain behaviours in the students. The purpose of this study was to build a driving simulation with multiple AI-driven cars, and let human testers use it, in order to analyse if and how a more polite lane-change behaviour, a more realistic lateral alignment, and a slower average speed affect the perception and the behaviour of human drivers. The simulator was developed upon low-cost hardware infrastructure previously used for other traffic studies. Since the existing software is very specific and hard to modify, a new simulation software was built from scratch for this study, using the Unity3D engine and implementing design patterns developed in previous studies, in order to produce a more flexible and modifiable infrastructure than what had been done in the past studies. The test subjects gave a generally good feedback on the simulator as a whole, and cars which politely changed lanes were regarded as behaving in a slightly more realistic way. Some insights were also obtained about user perception, mainly consisting in a difficulty in perceiving absolute speeds, whereas relative speeds were estimated more accurately.

Körsimulatorer är idag en mycket viktig resurs för att utföra studier med fokus på förarbeteende. Så väl full kontroll överscenario och miljö som kostnad och säkerhet är aspekter som gör det fördelaktigt att utföra simulatorstudier gentemotstudier i den riktiga trafiken. Ett problem med körsimulatorer är att bilden projiceras på en tvådimensionell skärm, vilket begränsar förarens förmåga attuppskatta avstånd och hastighet. Det är allmänt känt att avstånd och hastighet underskattas i körsimulatorer. Målet med examensarbetet var att hitta metoder som kan ge förbättrad avståndsbedömning i körsimulatorer och underprojektet implementerades och testades rörelseparallax samt skuggor, med största fokus på det förstnämnda. I slutet av projektet genomfördes ett simulatorförsök för att utvärdera effekten av rörelseparallax. Tio försökspersoner fickgöra två körningar vardera i VTI:s Simulator III-anläggning, den ena med rörelseparallax aktiverat och den andra meddetsamma inaktiverat. Scenariot som utspelade sig under körningarna innehöll ett flertal omkörningssituationer samt etthastighetsuppfattningstest. Resultaten från simulatorförsöket visade att försökspersonerna tenderade att placera sig längre från mittlinjen närrörelseparallax var aktiverat i de situationer som sikten skymdes av framförvarande fordon. / Today, driving simulators are a very important resource for conducting studies whichconcern driver behavior and perception. Full control of the scenario andenvironment, costs and safety are all factors which makes simulator studiespreferable over real world studies. One issue for driving simulators is that the image is projected onto a twodimensionalscreen, which limits the driver's ability to correctly estimate distanceand speed. It is commonly known that distance and velocity are underestimated indriving simulators. The goal of this thesis was to find methods that could lead to better distanceestimation in driving simulators and in this project motion parallax and shadowswere implemented and tested, focusing mainly on the former.At the end of the project, a simulator study was conducted to evaluate the effect ofmotion parallax. Ten participants made two runs each in VTI's Simulator III facility,one with motion parallax enabled and one with it disabled. The scenario that tookplace during the two runs consisted of several overtaking situations and a speedperception test. The results from the simulator study showed that the participants tended to positionthemselves farther from the road center line when motion parallax was active insituations when the field of view was obscured by preceding vehicles.

The purpose of this study was to develop some kind of feedback in a driving simulator aimed at helping drivers in following the ideal trajectory and let human testers use it, in  order  to  analyze  which  feedback  is  best  perceived,  and  if it is  also  the  one which allows the drivers to follow the ideal trajectory. The project implemented two different representations  based  on  theories  from  traffic  research  which  was  compared  in  an experiment  with  29 subjects.  The  first  representation  is  a  drawn  trajectory  and  the second one uses drawn points near the tangent point. This  work  is  based  on  a  driving  simulator developed  for  a  previous study using  the Unity3D  engine.  Furthermore,  the  driving  simulator  is  developed  on  a  low-cost hardware infrastructure. The  test  subjects  generally gave  a good  feedback  on  the  simulator as  a  whole  and analysis of the data, even if biased by a mean high speed caused by a general low speed perception,  shows  a  clear  pattern  in  which  the  use  of  drawn  trajectory  leads to performances closer to the ideal trajectory. This representation has also been valuated as  better  in  the questionnaire,  and  hence  from  the  available  data  it  seems  possible  to say  that  this  kind  of  feedback  is  better  perceived  and  leads  to  better  performances compared to the other one.

À l'heure actuelle, la voiture n'est plus un objet qui permet seulement de transporter une personne d'un endroit à un autre et il suffit de regarder les publicités automobiles pour en avoir la certitude. En effet, le champ lexical utilisé dans ces dernières se rapproche plus des sens, voire du rêve, que de la mobilité. La voiture n'est donc plus reléguée au simple rang de transporteur, mais à celui de véritable habitat dans lequel nous sommes amenés à découvrir de nouvelles sensations. Dans ce cadre, la réalité virtuelle est l'un des outils qui est utilisé dans l'industrie automobile afin de vérifier, en amont, l'ergonomie d'un prototype. En effet, en immergeant partiellement un usager dans cette autre réalité, il est possible d'avoir des retours pertinents quant à une maquette numérique, une interface, etc. Cela permet ainsi de tester différentes pièces avant même leur production ce qui est un gain notable en temps et en argent. Cependant, l'utilisation de cette technologie pose des questions quant au photo-réalisme de la reproduction virtuelle, et ce, tout particulièrement lorsque des pièces tels que les blocs optiques de la voiture sont analysés. Sur cette thématique, des études antérieures ont montré que le système reproduisait correctement les intensités lumineuses, mais pas la couleur des phares. Ainsi, dans le contexte du rendu de phare photoréaliste, nous avons tout d'abord proposé deux échelles colorimétriques afin d'analyser à quel point nous pouvions nous éloigner de la réalité sans que la différence de couleur ne gêne l'utilisateur final. À la suite de cela, nous avons proposé un système qui suit, au jour le jour, le vieillissement du simulateur dans le but de corriger ladite différence colorimétrique. Enfin, dans une étude exploratoire, nous avons souhaité regarder comment le comportement des conducteurs pouvait être influencé par la couleur des phares de voiture. Nous supposions que ce facteur pouvait avoir un impact sur la perception des distances et donc sur la distance intervéhiculaire à laquelle le conducteur se positionnait. / Nowadays, a car is not limited to the transportation of one or many people. Indeed, if we take a look at some automobile advertisement, it's more the idea of desir or even dream that is conveyed. Therefore, a car is no longer related to the simple rank of carrier but is a real new habitat in which we will discover new sensations. In this context, the car company that offers the best experience at the better price should be the one that dominates the market. For that purpose, virtual reality is one of the tools that is used by the automotive industry. Indeed, by partially immerging a user in this "other" reality, it is possible to get a relevent feedback for a digital model, Human-Machine Interface, etc. This allows to test different pieces before their production which is a significant gain in time and money. However, the use of this technology raises questions about the fidelity of the reproduction. Do the virtual reproduction of an object is close enough to the original ? If there is a difference, how could it impact the judgment of a person ? Those questions are even more important when it comes to the virtual evaluation of car headlight because they must respect international standard in term of color and light intensity. For these points, previous studies have shown that the system correctly reproduced the light intensities but not the headlights color. Thus, in the context of rendering photorealistic headlights, we first investigate on how a color difference can affect, discomfort the headlight specialist. To this end, we lead psychometric experiments and proposed two color difference scales (one for a naïve population and the other for an expert one). With this first result, we have proposed a system that follows, day by day, the aging simulator in order to correct the said color difference. Finally, in an exploratory study, we wanted to look at how the driver behavior could be influenced by the color of the car headlights. We assumed that this factor could affect depth perception and therefore the distance intercar in which the driver was positioning.

Objective The present study aims to investigate whether drivers’ age and their experience with driving simulators could explain differences between a subjective estimation of system adaptation and a respective objective systematic measurement. Background Assessing valid measurements in driving simulators causes concern because driving simulators are not yet as realistic as real on-road driving scenarios. Common methods like pre-defined training sessions and self-appraisals of simulator adaptation might therefore be insufficient to ensure actual valid data. Hence, influential variables on this discrepancy are investigated. Method In total, N = 203 drivers participated in a training session and a subsequent testing session in a close-to-production driving simulator. Subjective adaptation was estimated by the drivers and an objective adaptation value was gathered on the basis of driving accuracy. The discrepancy between these two measures was calculated and related to age, self-reported driving experience and occurrence of previous adaptation. Results Subjective adaptation was significantly faster than objective adaptation but neither drivers’ age, experience, nor previous adaptation could explain this discrepancy. Discussion Results indicate that younger and older drivers likewise underestimate the time needed for adaptation. Measuring a subjective point of adaptation seems to be an insufficient measure to ensure simulator validity when assessing both older and younger drivers.

La validité des simulateurs de conduite est une question essentielle pour étayer et valoriser les travaux visant à mieux comprendre les comportements de conduite. Alors que les dimensions subjective et comportementale de la validité ont été régulièrement étudiées, elles font face à certaines limites. A l’opposé, rares sont les études qui se sont intéressées à la validité psychologique des simulateurs. Cette dimension compare l'implication des mécanismes qui sous-tendent les comportements entre conduite réelle et virtuelle. De plus, très peu d’études ont confronté les différentes dimensions de la validité, alors que cela pourrait contribuer au développement d’une métrologie des environnements virtuels. C’est précisément à ce niveau que se situe ce travail de thèse, au cours duquel des mesures classiques de la validité comportementale (vitesse, contrôle latéral) ont été confrontées à des mesures de la validité psychologique examinée sous l’angle de la charge mentale en prenant notamment comme indicateur les clignements oculaires. L’objectif principal était de déterminer si le niveau de charge mentale diffère entre conduite sur route et conduite sur simulateur dans des cas où les comportements observés ne permettent pas de faire de distinction.Pour répondre à cette question, ce travail de thèse a été organisé autour de trois expériences réalisées sur simulateur de conduite et d’une étude sur route réelle. Les deux premières expériences visaient à mieux cerner l’effet de certains facteurs inhérents à la conduite sur route ouverte (trafic, environnement) sur les comportements de conduite et la charge mentale. La troisième expérience était quant à elle destinée à comparer la charge mentale induite par la conduite réelle et la conduite sur simulateur « bas coût », en confrontant cette mesure de la validité psychologique aux mesures comportementales classiques. Enfin, la quatrième expérience a porté sur les effets du retour d’effort du volant sur cette même charge mentale.Les principaux résultats ont mis en évidence un niveau de charge supérieur en conduite simulée par comparaison à la conduite en situation réelle, alors que certaines mesures comportementales (vitesse) n’étaient pas différentes. Cette charge accrue sur simulateur ne semble cependant pas trouver son origine dans le retour d’effort au volant, les modalités de retour testées n’ayant pas eu d’effet sur les indicateurs de la charge. Au final, ce travail confirme que la prise en compte de la validité psychologique, examinée ici sous l’angle de la charge mentale, présente un intérêt dans une démarche d’évaluation, dans le but de mieux cerner le positionnement des utilisateurs face à un dispositif de réalité virtuelle. Il ouvre ainsi des perspectives pour améliorer la validité des simulateurs de conduite. / The validity of driving simulators is an essential subject to support and highlight the works aiming to understand driving behaviours more thoroughly. While the subjective and behavioural dimensions of that validity have often been studied, they encounter a few limits. On the other hand, studies about simulators’ validity are fairly rare. This dimension compares the implication of mechanisms inherent in behaviours between real and virtual driving. Furthermore, very few studies have considered the various dimensions of validity at once, whereas it could contribute to the development of a metrology for virtual environments. This thesis is precisely about this, with confrontations between classical measurements of behavioural validity (speed, lateral control) and measurements of psychological validity, examined from the viewpoint of mental workload - using indicators such as eye blinking. The main objective was to ascertain whether the mental workload levels vary between road driving and simulated driving when the observed behaviours aren’t relevant to make a clear difference.To answer this question, this thesis has been organised around three experiences carried out on driving simulators and a comparison between actual road driving and low-cost simulated driving. Two of those experiences were conducted to finely analyse the effect of some factors inherent to open road driving (traffic, environment) on driving behaviours and mental workload. The third experience was made to compare the mental workload induced by real driving and low-cost simulator driving, by putting this psychological validity measurement against classical behavioural measurements. Lastly, the fourth experience focused on the effects of the driving wheel’s force-feedback on this same mental workload.The main results revealed a higher workload level on simulated driving than on real driving, while some behavioural measurements (speed) were not different. This increased workload with the simulator does not seem to stem from the wheel’s force-feedback, since the tested feedback methods did not have a repercussion on the workload levels. In the end, this work confirms that taking psychological validity - examined here from a mental workload viewpoint - does have an interest within an evaluation process to analyse in a finer fashion the mental state of users when faced with a virtual reality system. It creates prospects to improve the validity of driving simulators.