Exploring Emotional Responses to Anthropomorphic Images in Autonomous Vehicle Displays: An Eye-Tracking Study

Anthropomorphic images impart human-like features to non-human entities or abstract concepts can enhance user engagement and emotional connections, thereby enriching digital experiences. This subject has garnered significant interest in the realm of human-computer interaction. However, incorporating anthropomorphic images into digital transportation displays, such as navigation apps and in-vehicle displays, is relatively unexplored. With the rise of human-machine interactions in transportation, it is critical to understand how these visual effects influence user experience in urban mobility. Therefore, this study, involving 33 participants, investigated the impact of anthropomorphic images and media presentation styles (static versus dynamic) on user experience in autonomous taxi services. We employed eye-tracking technology to measure participants’ visual engagement and collected subjective experience data using the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-S) and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale. The results revealed that dynamic presentation styles elicit emotional resonance and visual attention more effectively than static ones. While anthropomorphic images did enhance visual attention to some extent, there was not a strong correlation between this increased attractiveness and the experience of pleasure. Overall, this research provides empirical evidence of the potential of anthropomorphic images in shaping emotional experiences in digital displays for transportation services. These insights can inform the selection of visual elements for vehicle display design, acknowledging their impact on user perception and decision-making. Future studies can explore a broader range of anthropomorphic features on emotions, to enhance our predictive understanding of emotional experiences in autonomous vehicles.