Anger effects on driver situation awareness and driving performance

Research has suggested that emotional states have critical effects on various cognitive processes, which are important components of situation awareness (Endsley, 1995b). Evidence from driving studies has also emphasized the importance of driver situation awareness for performance and safety. However, to date, little research has investigated the relationship between emotional effects and driver situation awareness. In our experiment, 30 undergraduates drove in a simulator after induction of either anger or neutral affect. Results showed that an induced angry state can degrade driver situation awareness as well as driving performance as compared to a neutral state. However, the angry state did not have an impact on participants\u27 subjective judgment or perceived workload, which might imply that the effects of anger occurred below their level of conscious awareness. One of the reasons participants showed a lack of compensation for their deficits in performance might be that they were not aware of severe impacts of emotional effects on driving performance

Prototype Auditory Displays for a Fuel Efficiency Driver Interface

Presented at the 20th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2014), June 22-25, 2014, New York, NY.We describe work-in-progress prototypes of auditory displays for fuel efficiency driver interfaces (FEDIs). Although research has established that feedback from FEDIs can have a positive impact on driver behaviors associated with fuel economy, the impact of FEDIs on driver distraction has not been established. Visual displays may be problematic for providing this feedback; it is precisely during fuel-consuming behaviors that drivers should not divert attention away from the driving task. Auditory displays offer a viable alternative to visual displays for communicating information about fuel economy to the driver without introducing visual distraction

CLW 2014: The Fourth Workshop on Cognitive Load and In-Vehicle Human- Machine Interaction

Abstract Interactions with in-vehicle electronic devices can interfere with the primary task of driving and increase crash risk. Interactions with in-vehicle interfaces draw upon visual, manipulative and cognitive resources, with this workshop focusing on cognitive resources for which measurement processes are less well known or established. This workshop will focus on two methods of measuring cognitive load, the Decision Response Time Task and collecting eye fixation data. The workshop will describe and demonstrate how they are collected, and discuss how the resulting data are reduced and analyzed. The focus will be on practical aspects of collecting and analyzing data using these methods, not on reporting research results

Recurrent de novo SPTLC2 variant causes childhood-onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by excess sphingolipid synthesis

BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease of the upper and lower motor neurons with varying ages of onset, progression and pathomechanisms. Monogenic childhood-onset ALS, although rare, forms an important subgroup of ALS. We recently reported specific SPTLC1 variants resulting in sphingolipid overproduction as a cause for juvenile ALS. Here, we report six patients from six independent families with a recurrent, de novo, heterozygous variant in SPTLC2 c.778G>A [p.Glu260Lys] manifesting with juvenile ALS. METHODS: Clinical examination of the patients along with ancillary and genetic testing, followed by biochemical investigation of patients' blood and fibroblasts, was performed. RESULTS: All patients presented with early-childhood-onset progressive weakness, with signs and symptoms of upper and lower motor neuron degeneration in multiple myotomes, without sensory neuropathy. These findings were supported on ancillary testing including nerve conduction studies and electromyography, muscle biopsies and muscle ultrasound studies. Biochemical investigations in plasma and fibroblasts showed elevated levels of ceramides and unrestrained de novo sphingolipid synthesis. Our studies indicate that SPTLC2 variant [c.778G>A, p.Glu260Lys] acts distinctly from hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN)-causing SPTLC2 variants by causing excess canonical sphingolipid biosynthesis, similar to the recently reported SPTLC1 ALS associated pathogenic variants. Our studies also indicate that serine supplementation, which is a therapeutic in SPTLC1 and SPTCL2-associated HSAN, is expected to exacerbate the excess sphingolipid synthesis in serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT)-associated ALS. CONCLUSIONS: SPTLC2 is the second SPT-associated gene that underlies monogenic, juvenile ALS and further establishes alterations of sphingolipid metabolism in motor neuron disease pathogenesis. Our findings also have important therapeutic implications: serine supplementation must be avoided in SPT-associated ALS, as it is expected to drive pathogenesis further

Report on the In-vehicle Auditory Interactions Workshop: Taxonomy, Challenges, and Approaches

Jeon M, Hermann T, Bazilinskyy P, et al. Report on the In-vehicle Auditory Interactions Workshop: Taxonomy, Challenges, and Approaches. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications - Automotive'UI 15. 2015: 1-5.As driving is mainly a visual task, auditory displays play a critical role for in-vehicle interactions.To improve in-vehicle auditory interactions to the advanced level, auditory display researchers and automotive user interface researchers came together to discuss this timely topic at an in-vehicle auditory interactions workshop at the International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD).The present paper reports discussion outcomes from the workshop for more discussions at the AutoUI conference

Spindex and Spearcons in Mandarin: Auditory Menu Enhancements Successful in a Tonal Language

Auditory displays have been used extensively to enhance visual menus across diverse settings for various reasons. While standard auditory displays can be effective and help users across these settings, standard auditory displays often consist of text to speech cues, which can be time intensive to use. Advanced auditory cues including spindex and spearcon cues have been developed to help address this slow feedback issue. While these cues are most often used in English, they have also been applied to other languages, but research on using them in tonal languages, which may affect the ability to use them, is lacking. The current research investigated the use of spindex and spearcon cues in Mandarin, to determine their effectiveness in a tonal language. The results suggest that the cues can be effectively applied and used in a tonal language by untrained novices. This opens the door to future use of the cues in languages that reach a large portion of the world’s population

Auditory and Head-Up Displays for Eco-Driving Interfaces

Eco-driving describes a strategy for operating a vehicle in a fuel-efficient manner. Current research shows that visual ecodriving interfaces can reduce fuel consumption by shaping motorists’ driving behavior but may hinder safe driving performance. The present study aimed to generate insights and direction for design iterations of auditory eco-driving displays and a potential matching head-up visual display to minimize the negative effects of using purely visual headdown eco-driving displays. Experiment 1 used a sound cardsorting task to establish mapping, scaling, and polarity of acoustic parameters for auditory eco-driving interfaces. Surveys following each sorting task determined preferences for the auditory display types. Experiment 2 was a sorting task to investigate design parameters of visual icons that are to be paired with these auditory displays. Surveys following each task revealed preferences for the displays. The results facilitated the design of intuitive interface prototypes for an auditory and matching head-up eco-driving display that can be compared to each other

Georgia Tech Simulator Sickness Screening Protocol

Originally posted at: http://sonify.psych.gatech.edu/research/driving/simsicknessscreening/index.htmlAs part of our ongoing driving research, the GT Sonification Lab has adapted and evolved a driving simulator sickness screening protocol that is quick, efficient, effective, and easy to administer. There is a paper-and-pencil version, and also an electronic version of the survey; and a procedure that involves: (1) a baseline survey, (2) a brief drive in the simulator, and (3) a post-drive survey. We have found that symptoms or discomfort become evident very quickly, and this procedure captures those participants effectively. Technical Report in PDF format describes the procedure and the protocol that we have completed. The ZIP archive contains all of the resources, including the NADS MiniSIM simulator files, and the screening protocol files. The Tech Report is also included in the ZIP archive. This download includes version 1.1 of the Java screening software, released Feb 2014, which includes a small bug fix, correcting the numeric calculation of sickness scores.This research has been supported, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Centrafuse, Panasonic Automotive Systems of America, and Toyota Research

The effects of social interactions with in-vehicle agents on a driver\u27s anger level, driving performance, situation awareness, and perceived workload

Research has suggested that interaction with an in-vehicle software agent can improve a driver\u27s psychological state and increase road safety. The present study explored the possibility of using an in-vehicle software agent to mitigate effects of driver anger on driving behavior. After either anger or neutral mood induction, 60 undergraduates drove in a simulator with two types of agent intervention. Results showed that both speech-based agents not only enhance driver situation awareness and driving performance, but also reduce their anger level and perceived workload. Regression models show that a driver\u27s anger influences driving performance measures, mediated by situation awareness. The practical implications include design guidelines for the design of social interaction with in-vehicle software agents