Emotional State Evaluation in Driving Simulations: PC Versus Virtual Theater

Emotional assessment during driving is a developing research field. In this study, two set-ups of driving simulation were tested: a laboratory set and a virtual theater set. People emotional state was evaluated in the two settings through questionnaires and continuous recording of physiological signals, such as electrodermal activity and heart rate. Contrasting results were found considering the declared by the participants (virtual theater preferred, more engaging, less stressful) and the information obtained by the physiological response (higher positive emotions in the laboratory). We also found higher skin conductance and heart rate for the subgroup with no experience of driving games and slightly higher sympathetic activation in the group with <4 years since the driving exam, suggesting that having few experiences in similar contexts increases the stress. This study confirms that physiological signals can give interesting insights in the emotional state of people, adding indicative information in comparison to the sole questionnaire.