The novelty appraisal of the feeling of risk in vehicles

Abstract

Nowadays, vehicle assistance systems may assess risks of the traffic situation with the help of advanced sensor technology and optimized algorithms. However, the passengers’ feelings of risk in the vehicle were mostly neglected. According to the Component Process Model of emotions, during the feeling of risk, novelty is one of the relevant event appraisals leading to particular physiological and facial responses. In order to identify whether or not indicators for novelty ap-praisal may be used for detecting the feeling of risk of vehicle occupants, we investigated physi-ological responses and facial expressions when experiencing feeling of risk with different levels of novelty. This secondary analysis of an earlier simulator study revealed that pupil diameter am-plitude, skin conductance level changes as well as changes in and amplitude of activity in facial expressions (the inner and outer brow raiser, brow lowerer, upper lid raiser and lid tightener) were correlated with the reduction of the novelty suggesting that they could indicate the novelty of the feeling of risk of vehicle occupants. Hence, this research provides evidence for the novelty appraisal of the feeling of risk. Furthermore, it informs research on affect-aware systems to identify and reduce the feeling of risk of vehicle occupants in order to help to keep trust in au-tomated vehicles high.