Rafael Gomez Thesis

Experience Design and
Automotive Design
Rafael Gomez
BachBitEnv, GradDiplndDes
Principal Supervisor
Professor Vesna Popovic
Associate Supervisor:
Associate Professor Sam Bucolo
School of Design
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering
Submitted for:
Masters by Research
December, 2005
Keywords
Experience design, automotive design, vehicle interface design, emotions,
design and emotions, emotions and driving, emotions and traffic context,
emotions and interaction, interaction and overall emotional experience, overall
emotional experience and driving, observational analysis, interior vehicle
design, future technologies and vehicle interface design.
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Abstract
This thesis centres on experience design and automotive design. The aim is
to investigate the emotional experience of the driving activity. The research
question driving the study is: “How can experience design influence the
driving activity?” Experience design proposes to explore emotional aspects of
interactions in context. A model of the human-product-environment
relationship, using activity theory as its foundation, is presented. The model is
used to situate the overall experience of driving.
An experiment exploring the overall emotional experience in real driving
situations was conducted. Participants were required to drive around a
specified route while performing particular tasks with the vehicle interface. A
data triangulation approach was employed involving interviews, think-aloud
protocols and observations.
Findings indicate that context together with the emotional state of the driver
before driving impacts the overall emotional experience. Positive emotional
states before driving with no interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts
generated neutral overall experiences. However, positive emotional states
before driving with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated
negative overall experiences. Negative emotional states before driving
combined with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated
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positive emotional experiences. It appears that positive emotions associated
with overcoming challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts reflect
positively on the overall experience. Emotions elicited in low and medium-
traffic contexts did not affect the overall experience. Another finding suggests
that extended visual interaction with interface in high-traffic context generates
negative emotions.
It is proposed that vehicle interfaces should adapt appropriately to their
surrounding context to support positive (and avoid negative) emotional
experiences. In low and medium-traffic contexts interfaces may encourage
interactions. In high-traffic contexts, if the driver is in a positive emotional state
before driving interfaces may discourage challenging interactions. If the driver
is in a negative emotional state before driving the interface may encourage
challenging interactions.
In conclusion, this study proposes the application of current and upcoming
technologies for future automotive interiors to enhance positive (and reduce
negative) emotional experiences within the driving activity.
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Table of Contents
Keywords i
Abstract iii
Table of Contents v
Statement of Original Authorship ix
Acknowledgements xi
Chapter 1
1.0 Introduction 3
1.1 Aim 5
1.2 Research Question 6
1.3 Thesis Structure 7
Chapter 2
2.0 Experience Design 13
2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Background 14
2.3 Design for Experience 18
2.4 Summary 21
Chapter 3
3.0 Emotions 25
3.1 Introduction 25
3.2 Emotions and Design 26
3.3 Understanding Emotions 27
3.4 Emotions and Interactions 34
3.5 Summary 38
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Table of Contents (continued)
Chapter 4
4.0 Context 43
4.1 Introduction 43
4.2 Multiple Levels of Context 44
4.3 Nature of Context: Static and Dynamic 45
4.4 Summary 47
Chapter 5
5.0 Modelling the Driving Activity 51
5.1 Introduction 51
5.2 Activity Theory 52
5.3 Model of the Driving Activity 57
5.4 Summary 61
Chapter 6
6.0 Experiment: Exploring the Driving Experience 65
6.1 Introduction 65
6.2 Emotional Experience of Driving 65
6.3 Identifying Emotions 67
6.4 Method 70
6.5 Summary 81
Chapter 7
7.0 Analysis 85
7.1 Introduction 85
7.2 Analysing Emotions 85
7.3 Coding of Data 92
7.4 Summary 106
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Table of Contents (continued)
Chapter 8
8.0 Findings 109
8.1 Introduction 109

8.2 Overall Emotional Experience: Impact of Context and
Emotional Condition before Driving 109
8.3 Emotions While Driving: Effect of Extended
Visual Interactions on the Emotions of Driver 126
8.4 Summary 130
Chapter 9
9.0 Discussion and Implications 133
9.1 Introduction 133

9.2 Examining the Findings 133
9.3 Implications for Automotive Design 135
9.4 Application of Current and Future Technologies 139
9.5 Summary 143
Chapter 10
10.0 Conclusion and Future Directions 149
References 155
Appendix A Information Package and Experiment Consent Form 165

Appendix B Initial Interview 171
Appendix C Retrospective Interview 175
Appendix D Time-Event Plot Files (CD) 181
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Statement of Original Authorship
“The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a
degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my
knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or
written by another person except where due reference is made.”
Signature:
Date:
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Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to thank my principle supervisor, Professor Vesna Popovic,
and associate supervisor, Associate Professor Sam Bucolo, for their guidance
and support throughout my research. Their dedication, commitment and
invaluable comments have been greatly appreciated. Thank you also to my
fellow research colleagues at QUT for their helpful discussions and
encouragement whenever I needed it. I would also like to thank all the
participants who were involved in the experiment. Their involvement made this
research possible. Thank you also to my family for their constant and enduring
support. Last but not least, I would like to thank my girlfriend for her endless
reassurance and support, and who continuously inspires me.
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Introduction
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
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Experience Design and Automotive Design
2
Introduction
1.0 Introduction
“What people really desire are not products, but satisfying experiences”
(Moore, 2002 p.40).
Creating innovative designs no longer involves eliminating deficiencies in
products to satisfy users (Fulton, 1993). The current thrust in design research
and practice is based on exploring the overall emotional experience between
humans, products and the environment of use. As Selker and Burleson (2000)
note “the best products are the result of creative experimentation and close
attention to the human experience in specific contexts” (Selker & Burleson, 2000
p.880). Traditionally designers have had available to them an excess amount of
set guidelines that relate to the product’s function and usability, which are
commonly aimed at trying to respond to faults and deficiencies in artefacts
(Jordan, 1998b). Fulton acknowledges this and notes, “the emphasis still seems
to be on avoiding trouble rather than positively enhancing the human
physiological experience” (Fulton, 1993 p.8). Positively enhancing the
psychological as well as the physiological experience is part of creating positive
overall emotional experiences.
Within the field of design an approach concentrating on the overall emotional
experience of interactions has emerged. This approach has been labelled as
experience design. Experience design centres on the overall emotional
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experience of interaction between user, product and environment. The focal
aspects are emotions and contexts and how they are implicated in the overall
experience of interactions. Focusing on emotions and context is not completely
new; designers have always been interested in the emotional aspects of designs
as well as how context influences experience. Nevertheless, until recently, they
have had limited established data to draw upon focusing on these issues.
Why is the experience design approach relevant for designers? Margolin points
out “…experience broadens the discussion of function. It moves us from a focus
on the product’s mechanical operation to the way it fits in to a user’s activities”
(Margolin, 1997 p.229). By focusing attention on the overall experience, activities
performed between humans and products may be better understood,
consequently providing designers with relevant knowledge to design products
and systems that support and allow users to engage in positive emotional
experiences during interaction. In this way, designs that support emotional
aspects of interactions may be perceived as easier to use, more engaging and
more appealing to the user (Tractinsky, Katz, & Ikar, 2000).
The impact this design approach may have on the business and marketing of
products is also important. Nowadays, consumers find it difficult to differentiate
products based on their functional and technological features because of their
similarities in different market sectors (Desmet, 2002). Green and Jordan (1999)
point out that in this day and age consumers expect products to be functional,
4
Introduction
useable and ergonomically correct and are searching for new attractive qualities
in the products they purchase. The experience design approach, which focuses
on the emotional aspects of interaction, may be a step towards providing this new
benefit. The emotional experiences with products have implication for product
differentiation, brand image, brand recognition, customer loyalty, buying
intentions and influence future purchase decision (Carbone & Haeckel, 1994;
Gobé, 2001; O'Shaughnessy & O'Shaughnessy, 2003; Pine & Gilmore, 1998). By
incorporating emotional benefits into products, companies and manufacturers
can stay one step ahead of the competition.
Given the importance that emotional experiences have on both design and
marketing, it seems pertinent to explore overall emotional experiences to better
understand how they are elicited during product use and how they affect and
influence human users during interactions with products.
1.1 Aim
The aim of this research is to explore the emotional experience between human
user and product in context. Specifically, the focus is on the emotional
experience of interaction with the vehicle interface within the driving activity and
relates to automotive design. Nonetheless, some of the main ideas and findings
may be transferable to other products that are used in a variety of different
environments. The study attempts to explore emotions during the activity of
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driving as well as how emotions are elicited and affected during interaction
between driver and vehicle interface while driving.
1.2 Research Question
“Car design influences the lives of millions of people throughout the world.
Whether the car serves as merely a practical means of transport or as an
extension of one’s personality, its design and brand will always attract
comment.”
(Newbury, 2002 p.11)
The automobile, since its inception into society, has become one of the most
widely used methods of transportation. Statistics show that between 1999 and
2001, four-fifths of the distance travelled in Great Britain was made by car alone
(Department for Transport, 2002). The production of cars reached over 17 million
in 2002 for the European countries alone (Auto Industry, 2003). In today’s world,
people spend considerable time interacting with the vehicle while driving;
consequently the design of vehicle interiors has a great influence on people’s
daily lives.
Available literature reveals that research has previously been conducted on the
negative emotions of driving (Mesken, 2001) and the impact of negative
emotional states on driving performance (Nasoz, Ozyer, Lisetti, & Finkelstein,
6
Introduction
2002). Emotional response to exterior styling (Desmet, 2002) as well as emotions
in relation to the social (Pelly, 1996) and cultural aspects of vehicles (Sheller,
2004) have also been explored. Jordan (Jordan, 2000) noted that research on
the emotional response humans have to the smell of new vehicle interiors has
also been conducted. However, there appears to be limited research into the
overall emotional experience of interaction between driver and vehicle interface
in everyday driving situations (Mesken, 2001). As a result, this research
addresses the following question:
How can experience design influence the driving activity?
This is relevant to design practice, as emotional experience will impact the
interaction during use as well as the memory of interaction after use. Exploring
the emotional aspect of interaction opens up new areas of investigation helping
designers gain a better understanding of the human-product relationship and
enabling them to design products that support and enhance the overall emotional
experience of interaction.
1.3 Thesis Structure
The thesis begins by focusing on the experience design approach. It starts by
outlining the development of experience design from a human factors and human
computer interaction perspective. This is followed by a description and definition
of experience design within the context of the driving activity. The critical issue
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outlined in chapter two is that within design the focus is moving beyond
investigating only the product’s attributes towards understanding the importance
of the overall emotional experience attained by human users during interaction.
The focus is now on designing products and systems that allow human users to
engage in positive emotional experiences in a variety of contexts.
Chapter three focuses on emotions. Understanding emotions is critical if one is to
explore the emotional experience of interaction hence this chapter aims to situate
emotions in the context of the driving activity. The nature of emotions, the
difference between primary and secondary emotions as well as the difference
between emotions and moods are examined. Finally, the implication of emotions
on interactions is discussed.
Chapter four focuses on the importance of context on interactions. This chapter
examines the different levels within which context can exist and describes its
dynamic and static nature. At the conclusion of this chapter it is proposed that the
context of the driving activity is composed of two interactive levels and that it is
dynamic in nature.
The model of the driving activity is presented in chapter five. The foundation used
to develop the model was activity theory as it emphasises the importance of
interactions and activities through time, relating to the experience design
approach. The main aspects of activity theory used in the formation of the model
8
Introduction
are introduced. The model of the driving activity is presented and explained. The
model intends to capture the overall experience of interactions within the driving
context and is used as a fundamental framework for the driving experience
studied in this research.
An experiment focusing on the emotional experience of driving in a real driving
situation is presented in chapter six. The aim was to identify different aspects of
the driving experience that may enhance or detract from the overall emotional
experience. An overview of the approach and a section describing the construct
used to identify emotions during observations is explained. Finally the method
utilised for observing the emotional experience of driving is presented.
Chapter seven discusses the analysis of the data obtained. Firstly, a section
highlighting how emotions were analysed is presented followed by a section
outlining the coding of the data obtained during the experiment.
Findings in relation to the overall emotional experience as well as in regards to
specific emotions while driving are discussed in chapter eight. Characteristic
examples of positive, negative and neutral emotional experiences from the
experiments are provided.
The findings in relation to design and their implications for automotive interface
design are discussed. The application of current and future technologies to
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vehicle interface designs and how they can be used to support and enhance
overall positive (and reduce negative) emotional experiences are also
considered.
The conclusion summarises the thesis and presents an overview of the study and
the findings. The response to the research question that steered the thesis is
discussed and future study directions are suggested.
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Experience Design
Chapter Two
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
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Experience Design
2.0 Experience Design
2.1 Introduction
“Today, it’s not enough just to build into a product implicit qualities, such
as excellent functionality and usability, and explicit qualities, such as an
appealing look and feel. You need to discover new, attractive qualities by
considering the whole ‘experience’ of interaction between user and
product over time.”
(Marzano, 1996)
Design is no longer just about designing excellent product qualities or eliminating
deficiencies in products to satisfy users (Fulton, 1993, 2002). It is also about
designing products and systems that will elicit appropriate positive emotional
experiences in a variety of contexts, thus forming powerful emotional
attachments between the user and the product in a diverse range of situations.
The emphasis is moving beyond the product and its features towards exploring
emotional experience and interaction through time. This approach to design can
be observed both in design research and design practice (Forlizzi & Ford, 2000;
Green & Jordan, 1999, 2002; Hummels, 2000; Jordan, 1998a, 2000; Moggridge,
1999; Sanders & Dandavate, 1999). Other approaches that are similar but
labelled differently include pleasurable design (Jordan, 2000), sensuality in
design (Hofmeester, Kemp, & Blankendaal, 1996) emotional design (Norman,
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2004), high-design (Philips, 2001) and affective design (Picard, 1997) however
the term experience design appears to capture this recent design trend
successfully.
The following section examines how the fundamental ideas of experience design,
that is the issue of emotions and context, has developed in related design fields.
It follows on to describe experience design and what the approach entails for the
study of the human-product relationship.
2.2 Background
Traditionally within design there has been a focus on creating products and
systems that are usable, functional, efficient and effective (Green, 2002; Jordan,
1998b). These issues relate to the physical and cognitive aspects of interaction
stemming from many disciplines including ergonomics and human-computer
interaction fields. Of late these disciplines are beginning to explore emotional
aspect of interaction (Brave & Nass, 2002; Jordan, 1999; Picard, 1997). A brief
overview of ergonomics and human-computer interaction is presented
demonstrating how the focus is moving towards exploring the emotional aspects
of interaction.
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Experience Design
Human-Factors and Ergonomics
For many years, human-factors experts applied methods and approaches that
concentrated on developing tasks, products and environments to be compatible
with people’s needs, abilities and limitations (IEA Council, 2000). Different
authors have derived slightly different definitions on human-factors (Cushman &
Rosenberg, 1991; Dreyfuss, 1974; Grandjean, 1980; McCormick, 1970) but there
is a general consensus that its objective is to maximise overall system
performance by creating effective and efficient systems as well as safe and
comfortable workspaces and environments based on the limitations of human
users.
This approach to design is appropriate in many respects. Preece (2002) explains
how products that require some kind of interaction to carry out specific tasks are
normally designed to optimise the performance of its functions. It is evident that
in some circumstances interactions need to be effective and efficient without too
much mental or physical effort on behalf of the user. This is the case with
machines in an industrial setting required to do a very specific and focused job
without a great deal of peripheral activity. In these settings, it is inappropriate to
have an interface that provides the user with unnecessary entertainment or
surprises that could increase the risks already present in this environment.
However, in other circumstances, it may be limiting to focus solely on issues of
function as this could undermine other aspects of interaction (Jordan, 2000).
Basing design purely on effectiveness and efficiency limits the type of
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interactions a person may experience. Take the design of a personal digital
assistance (PDA) as an example. Following ergonomic principles, the PDA could
be designed to be effective and efficient in every situation providing a reliable
experience through its interaction. This may be appropriate in situations when the
user is in a hurry or requires a specific function to be performed. However, in
other circumstances, when the user is bored or exploring the product this may
not produce an enjoyable overall experience, instead it may produce more
negative feelings relating to boredom or even feelings of dislike. In these
circumstances, it may be possible to design an interface that provides the user
with added entertainment or surprise. Thus, in certain situations artefacts are
more than just tools to help users achieve specific tasks; instead they should be
seen as ‘living objects’ that have ‘relationships’ with users (Jordan, 2000)
depending on the circumstance and situation.
For these and other reasons certain researchers and authors (Fulton, 1993;
Green, 2002; Jordan, 2000) have begun to suggest that human-factor specialists
begin to look at broader issues such as affective or pleasurable aspects relating
to the user-artefact relationship.
Human-Computer Interaction
Hoff et al (2002) give a summary on what they consider to be the two prominent
approaches in human-computer interaction (HCI) that have intensely investigated
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Experience Design
the relationship between humans and artefacts. One is research driven while the
other is the application driven approach.
The research driven approach is said to be based on cognitive psychology that
emerged during the 1950’s and 60’s (Hoff et al., 2002; Nardi, 1996a). From the
very beginning, HCI took a computational view of interactions that consisted of
plans, procedures, tasks and goals; in other words, fixed modes of understanding
the human-artefact relationship (Dourish, 2001b). This led to research that dealt
with the mental aspects of human interaction, delving into the subjects of human
cognition and information processing. It was believed that human thought
processes resembled that of advanced computers, which functioned in a purely
systematic and digital manner. Theories found in earlier HCI literature tended to
simplify the user-artefact interaction to minute levels and forget about the
meaning behind the activities and the broader aspects of interactions (Brave &
Nass, 2002; Nardi, 1996b). As a result, other aspects of the interactions such as
emotions “…seemed at best marginally relevant to human-computer interaction”
(Brave & Nass, 2002 p.3).
Likewise, the same can be said for the application driven approach in HCI. This
approach is found in the interface and software design areas. Although experts in
this field have developed substantial know-how to what constitutes a good
interface most user interface issues evolve from economical and technical factors
based on usability problems (Hoff et al., 2002). These issues tended to
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concentrate on the performance and practicality of the object alone such that
“software designers tended toward a computer-centred design approach that at
best assumed and at worst ignored the needs and preferences of end users”
(Gay & Hembrooke, 2004 p.1).
Contrary to this, there has been a recent trend in HCI research and practice to
move beyond these traditional approaches and incorporate novel ways of looking
at interactions (Nardi, 1996a; Picard, 1997; Suchman, 1987). There is recognition
that other aspects are involved within the human-product relationship dependent
on the person and context of use. Humans behave in a manner that is governed
not merely by logic, but also more importantly by emotions (Lakoff & Johnson,
1999; Simon, 1996) and affected greatly by the context in which they experience
interactions (Gay & Hembrooke, 2004; Nardi, 1996b).
2.3 Design for Experience
The focus on emotional experience of interactions has driven novel approaches
to design including the experience design approach. Experience design concerns
itself with the emotional experience of interaction. It stands on the premise that
users are interested in the overall emotional experience attained throughout
interaction rather than on the product itself. In other words the product, its
function and its usability become important only in relation to the people’s
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Experience Design
interactions and activities, or more precisely, their everyday experience. This
approach has brought about new challenges to the field of design:
“Designers need to explore in greater depth the interactive relation
between how people develop their individual and collective activities, and
the ways that new products influence this process.”
(Margolin, 1997 p.228)
Designers need to build up a greater understanding of humans and their activities
so as to fit the artefact into this complex inter-relationship. Experience design is
not in essence a new approach; instead it intends to build upon traditional
approaches in design rather than reject them. Experience design is a re-
emphasis of the multitude of factors existing in the human-artefact relationship by
focusing on the emotional aspects during interaction within the surrounding
context.
One issue that must be highlighted is that the goal of experience design is not
about trying to design a specific experience. “Experience design” can be
misinterpreted to imply that the design of products and systems will somehow
educe a specific experience through interactions; however, this is not the case.
Everyday experiences are only fully understood in the mind of individuals and are
impossible to predict, much less design, because it is difficult to control all the
contextual and subjective aspects of a situation at any given time (Sanders &
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Dandavate, 1999). For example, one might find the experience of a roller coaster
exciting and fun, while another may find it terribly frightening, no matter when or
how it is experienced. Taking this into consideration the experience design
approach should be viewed as designing contexts for experiences rather than the
experiences themselves (Overbeeke, Djadjadiningrat, Hummels, & Wensveen,
2002). To do this products and systems need to give users the opportunity to
engage in experiences that are personal, appealing and enjoyable in a variety of
contexts. In other words, the products and systems users interact with should
support positive emotional experiences.
What constitutes a positive experience? Positive experiences may come about
from effective, efficient and effortless interactions. However, enjoyment can come
from challenging, seductive, playful or surprising interactions requiring a certain
level of engagement or complexity (Hummels, 2000; Overbeeke et al., 2002).
Instead of thinking of positive interactions as simply being effortless interactions it
is more about how the overall experience is perceived and managed over the
course of interaction within a given situation. A good example of this is described
by Hummels (2000) when she points out that designers “…should not focus only
on the user or the product, but on the relationship between the user and the
product” and goes on to “…propose a design shift from creating products to
creating contexts for experiences” (Hummels, 2000 p.1.16)
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Experience Design
“A context for experience shifts the focus from the products as an
impersonal straightjacket to an open system with which users create their
own experiences.”
(Hummels, 2000 p. 1.16)
From this view, artefacts and systems become entities that support appropriate
positive emotional interactions as opposed to forcing a particular experience on
the user. This shifts the focus from solely looking at the user or the product
towards exploring the entire interactivity between the user, product and
environment over time.
2.4 Summary
Experience design proposes to explore a broad view of interactions between
human and the product. The focus is on the overall emotional experience
between the human user and product within context. First, the emotional
experience attained by the user during interaction is important thus emotions are
a central element. Second, since the focus is on interaction over time the issue of
context is important. Chapters three examines the importance of emotions while
chapter four focuses on context and the effect it has on the overall experience.
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Emotions
Chapter Three
EMOTIONS
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Emotions
3.0 Emotions
3.1 Introduction
In respect to the field of design Fulton comments “there are vast areas of human
experience that we have barely begun to explore – particularly those to do with
people’s emotional response to things” (Fulton, 2002 p.161). Although the
underlying mechanisms of emotions may be uncontrollable it is still relevant to
have an understanding of the nature of emotions, how they are elicited in
everyday activities and their implications to design.
Humans are affected greatly by emotions. Emotions are not separate from
reason and logic; instead they are an integral part of what is know as ‘intelligent
thinking’ (Damasio, 1994). Human emotions influence reflexes, feelings, moods,
cognition, and behaviour. Additionally, they are implicated in attention,
perception, thinking, judgment, mental stimulation and retrieval of memory (Brave
& Nass, 2002; Picard, 1997; Russell, 2003). As such, emotions form a critical
component of everyday experiences. When humans interact with artefacts in
their environment their emotional condition will greatly affect how they will
perceive, understand, and recall that particular event. For all these reasons
emotions are relevant to the study of human-artefact relationship.
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To recognise how emotions fit within the human-product relationship it is
important that the subject of emotion is examined. This chapter examines
emotions, how they are characterised, their nature, their influence during
interactions and their implications for design.
3.2 Emotions and Design
As pointed out in chapter one, the field of design has traditionally concentrated
on issues relating to the usability and functionality of products and product use
but little has been done in the way of pleasurable aspects of design (Green,
2002). It is only recently that the field of design has begun to explore aspect of
emotions within the human-product relationship, especially in respect to
interactions between human and product during use. Emotional aspects of
interaction do not supersede or replace other issues in design; instead they help
to form a more complete picture of interactions promoting a better understanding
of the human-product relationship.
There are several reasons why emotions have not been previously considered in
a formal manner within design. First, emotions are subjective and personal,
whereby two people can have completely different feelings about the same
event. Second, feelings can be directly influenced by context, including
environment, time of day, place, weather and social situation. Third, an
experience can elicit a mixture of emotions from a variety of sources making it
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Emotions
difficult to attribute the emotional experience to one particular object.
Nevertheless, emotional and affective issues relating to design can be managed
to a degree. The idea is not to control the experience or the specific emotion a
user is going to feel; instead the objective is to design artefacts and systems that
present users with the opportunity to engage in enjoyable experiences in a
variety of contexts.
3.3 Understanding Emotions
Emotions appear to be an easy concept to understand, after all people
experience a plethora of emotions on a daily basis. Throughout the day (and
even in dreams) people are inundated with emotional feelings; I feel like sleeping
in today. I don’t feel like going to go to work. That coffee was great! I love this
movie! These statements are all examples of self-emotional states experienced
throughout the day. Nevertheless, even though people are adept at experiencing
and acknowledging emotions, understanding the concept of human emotions is
complicated and challenging.
Although various theories of emotion abound, there is no one universally
accepted definition for emotion (Picard, 1997; Plutchik, 2003; Russell, 2003).
Nonetheless, emotions are generally characterised by two distinct aspects (Brave
& Nass, 2002). The first is that emotions relate to the needs, goals or concerns of
an individual. Secondly, emotions are composed of psychological, affective,
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behavioural and cognitive aspects. For instance, happiness is a reaction to a
situation relating to one’s goals or concerns in a congruent manner and may
result in a smile (behavioural component) a comprehension that something is
good (cognitive component) and a feeling of satisfaction and contentment
(combination of affective and cognitive components). Fear on the other hand is a
reaction to a situation perceived as threatening and may elicit sweating and
screaming (behavioural component) a comprehension that something is amiss
(cognitive component) and a feeling of alarm and fright (combination of affective
and cognitive components). These two aspects form the underlying components
of emotions. Interactions between human users and products will often elicit
these types of reactions. A user will expect a product to fulfil a specific goal and if
the product cannot fulfil this goal, the user can become annoyed or frustrated.
Although this explains the basic characteristics of emotions, a deeper
examination of emotions as well as how they are elicited during interactions is
needed.
3.3.1 The Nature of Emotions
To arrive at a deeper understanding of how emotions are formed during
interactions with the external environment, the following question needs to be
addressed; are emotions learned through social interaction or are they innate?
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Emotions
On the one hand some theories maintain that emotions are almost entirely
socially learned (Brave & Nass, 2002; Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 2000). From this
perspective, emotions are believed to change as social structures change since
they are seen as “based on beliefs, shaped by language and derived from
culture” (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 2000 p.459). As such, from this view, emotions
are not universal and if different cultures exhibit comparable expressions for a
particular emotion it is due to similar social structures rather than biological
similarities.
In contrast evolutionary theories maintain that emotions are innate in nature and
relate to basic, biological and behavioural foundations (Darwin, 1965; McDougall,
1968; Plutchik, 1968, 2003). Evolutionary theorists believe that emotions are
displayed automatically without any social learning process involved. The basis is
that emotions have developed through an evolutionary process for the purpose of
survival and are thus universal in nature. For example, when afraid, our first
instinct is to flee the immediate area. In this regard, emotional expressions are
used as preparations for actions as well as communicative tools between animals
about what is likely to occur in a given situation (Plutchik, 2003).
Lastly there are researchers that consider the nature of emotions to lie
somewhere in between these two views (Arnold, 1968a; Oatley & Johnson-Laird,
2002; Panksepp, 1998). These theorists consider certain emotions to be innate
and others to be socially constructed depending on the type of emotion
29
experienced. Johnson-Laird and Oatley (2000) distinguish between three types:
basic, object-oriented and complex. Basic emotions are innate, derived from
biological mechanism. Object-oriented emotions relate to the feelings of
attraction or repulsion toward particular objects or events and are based on
biological procedures as well as higher-level cognitive appraisal of events.
Complex emotions are formed using higher level processing as well as cultural
and social influences an include emotions like guilt, jealousy and embarrassment.
Basic emotions are thought to derive from survival instincts while object-oriented
and complex emotions are connected to the individual’s appraisal of the
circumstances (Arnold, 1968b; Stein, Trabasso, & Liwag, 2000). Thus, object
oriented and complex emotions are elicited in relation to the individual’s particular
concern, their goals and the meaning the individual attaches to the event.
Within the context of this study, the latter theory offers the most possibilities for
understanding emotions over the course of interaction between human and
product. The idea of basic emotions is useful for explaining why people
sometimes like or dislike a product for no apparent reason as basic emotions are
automatic and need not be conscious (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 2000). Also, this
view acknowledges and explains the conscious and complex emotional states
humans often engage in with products over the course of interaction. Appraisal
relating to object oriented and complex emotions provides a framework for
understanding how emotions are elicited during interactions. As Stein et al (2000)
explain:
30
Emotions
“Changes are perceived when goals are blocked, attained or
threatened…and perceiving changes in goal states induces immediate
changes in emotional states and general states of well being.”
(Stein et al., 2000 p.439)
If the goal or intent of the user is blocked, attained or threatened during
interaction with products, individuals will experience an emotional state.
Generally speaking, if the goal is blocked people will experience negative
emotions, if the goal is attained they will experience positive emotions and if the
goal is threatened they will experience a mixture of emotions depending on the
outcome. Another aspect the idea of appraisal helps to understand is why people
may experience different emotions towards the same product (Desmet, 2002).
Since people appraise interactions in different ways they will attach different
meanings to the same product thus educe a different emotional response.
Essentially this view provides a framework for understanding how emotions are
elicited during interactions and offers a good foundation for understanding
emotions within the context of this study.
31
3.3.2 Primary and Secondary Emotions
From the overview discussed emotions can be classified into two types; primary
and secondary emotions (Brave & Nass, 2002; Frijda, 1986; Plutchik, 2003).
Primary or ‘lower-level’ emotions, such as fear and rage are instinctive, primal
urges to react in a particular way, such as fleeing or crying out when in danger.
There are also the more complex emotions, described as secondary or ‘higher-
level’ emotions. These emotions are formed using cognitive processing and
conscious appraisal of events; these include emotions like pride, contentment
and embarrassment.
Within this study the focus is on the secondary or ‘higher-level’ type emotions
given that during interactions there is a certain level of cognitive appraisal
involved in the formation of overall emotional experiences. Nevertheless, primary
emotions are not disregarded since they are certainly experienced during
interactions with products.
3.3.3 Emotion and Mood
A distinction between the terms emotion and mood must be highlighted. The
terms are often used to describe the same phenomenon, however from a
psychological perspective they are used to define different emotional attributes.
32
Emotions
Emotion and mood differ in respect to their object-directedness (Brave & Nass,
2002; Frijda, 1986). This suggests that emotions have a direct relationship with
and occur in response to objects and events. We get scared of something, happy
with someone, excited about an event (Brave & Nass, 2002). Moods, on the
other hand, do not occur in direct response to objects or events (although they
can be indirectly caused by them); instead they are often a reflection of a
general, global feeling toward the surrounding environment (Frijda, 1986). A
joyous mood is a reflection of a general feeling of happiness. Moods can also
arise when a particular type of emotion is frequently activated (Picard, 1997). If
sad emotions are continually being experienced, that person’s mood will often
become depressed or negative in nature. From a functional perspective, moods
also differ from discreet emotions (Brave & Nass, 2002). Emotions tend to
influence action over the short term and are thus short-lived experiences. Moods
influence cognitive strategies over a longer period of time acting as general filters
to appraise internal and external events. They also tend to be long-term
emotional states, lasting for hours, days and even weeks (Picard, 1997). A good
mood will make a person appraise events in a positive light, while a bad mood
will tend make a person appraise events in a negative light (Brave & Nass, 2002).
Emotions are attributed directly to objects since they occur while one is
interacting with products and last for short periods of time. Moods on the other
hand represent overall emotional states and occur over the course of interaction
lasting for long periods of time. Particular interactions with objects may affect the
33
emotions of a user, and consequently affect the mood. For instance, a person
may become frustrated when experiencing difficulty with a product. If that person
continues to experience difficulties over the course of interaction, that individual’s
emotional state may become one of annoyance or irritation causing an overall
negative mood.
Within the context of this study, understanding the difference between emotions
and moods is important. In the driving activity, emotions may be elicited during
interaction between driver and interface while moods will become active over
longer periods of time. It is suggested that emotions (short lived emotional
experiences) will be elicited during driving while moods (longer emotional states)
will represent the overall emotional experience within the driving activity.
3.4 Emotions and Interactions
What is it about emotions that make them important for design? How do they
help designers better understand interactions? Traditionally, emotions were
branded as disadvantageous for rational and logical thinking processes. They
were believed to impede our ability to think logically, to function in a rational
manner and our general ability to make sense of our situations; nowadays,
emotions are thought to be essential for rational and intelligent behaviour (Picard,
1997). An examination of how emotions are implicated in attention, perception,
34
Emotions
performance, and memory (essential aspects for interacting with the surrounding
environment) is presented.
Attention
Emotions have a great effect on attention and concentration and direct human
interests on particular events or aspects occurring in the environment. These
aspects that attract attention have to do with the individuals concerns or needs.
The higher the significance of an event, the higher the emotional state and the
more it will capture the attention of the individual. For instance, if a significant
interaction is causing a problem and becoming frustrating, attention will be
directed more and more towards that problem until it is solved. On the other
hand, if an interaction is considered inconsequential, and it is becoming
frustrating, attention will be diverted away from that situation completely so as to
eliminate the negative feelings of frustration. Moods also affect attention, but in a
less direct way. Generally speaking, attention is devoted to aspects of
surrounding environment that concur with a current mood state. However, mood
states are regulated such that people seek interactions that will generate a
desired mood and offset an undesired mood.
It is important to consider how emotional reactions to products will affect the
individual’s attention and concentration. If a product is poorly designed and users
experience negative emotions towards it they will likely lose interest and
discontinue using the product. If the product is designed to support positive
35
emotional experiences, the individual will become interested and be more
inclined to continue using the product.
Perception
Perceptions about interactions are influenced by moods. Studies in this area
suggest that people will judge their surrounding environment in a mood-
congruent manner (Frijda, 1986; Plutchik, 2003). A person in a positive mood will
tend to judge events in a positive light, whereas a person in a negative mood will
generally judge events in a negative light. If individuals attribute negative moods
to a product their judgement of that product will be biased in a negative way.
Likewise, if individuals attribute positive emotions to a product their perception of
that product will be biased in a positive way (Brave & Nass, 2002). Therefore, by
supporting positive emotional experiences, appropriately designed products will
continuously keep users in a positive mood, promoting the perception of an
overall positive experience.
Performance
Mood states have been shown to influence the cognitive performance and
decision-making abilities of individuals. Positive mood states increase creativity
and problem-solving abilities while negative mood states leads to less creativity
and pragmatic thinking (Frascara, 1999). This suggests that a product that
sustains positive emotions will keep individuals happy during an interaction and if
36
Emotions
this is the case minor difficulties encountered will be overcome more effectively
and efficiently.
Memory
Since emotions focus attention on particular events, the memory of that event is
also affected. Highly arousing emotional states will tend to be remembered more
than events that do not stimulate any emotional state at all (Buchanan & Adolphs,
2002). Also, negative emotional experiences are remembered more than positive
emotional events.
The relationship between emotions and memory is important for designers to
recognize since memory of an interaction will influence future use of that product.
Emotions elicited during interaction with products will impact greatly on how that
experience will be remembered. It is important to try and avoid negative emotions
during interaction with a product since negative emotions are remembered more
readily. If this occurs, unless the emotion changes throughout the interaction, the
individual will associate the product with a negative emotional experience. If an
individual remembers the experience of an interaction with a product as negative
that person will be less likely to want to use that product in the future. If, on the
other hand, the overall experience is remembered as positive it may encourage
future use of that product.
37
Attention, memory, performance and judgements are important mental
components of interactions between users and products. It is relevant to have an
understanding of how emotions and moods affect these cognitive aspects so as
to be better equipped to design products that support positive experiences.
3.5 Summary
This chapter presented an overview of the subject of emotions. Theories
proposing that emotions are generated by appraisal of events offer the most
possibilities within this study. From this view, emotions arise when events and
activities are appraised as corresponding or conflicting with the individual’s
concern. Emotions can also be characterised as primary, driven by instinct, or
secondary, requiring cognitive processing. Within this study the focus is primarily
on secondary emotions as they are often elicited during prolonged interactions
with products, however primary emotions are not dismissed as they are
implicated in interactions between humans and products. The difference between
emotions and moods was also outlined. Emotions are short-lived experiences
and relate to specific objects in the environment while moods are long-term
experiences and may be caused by no obvious object in the environment.
Recurring emotions can cause moods to arise, while moods can bias what type
of emotions will be educed. Emotions arise from direct interactions between
person and product while moods reflect feelings about the overall experience of
interaction. Finally the implication of emotions and moods in attention,
38
Emotions
perception, performance and memory, was outlined. Outlining these different
aspects of emotions help to emphasise how they are implicated in interactions.
39
40
Context
Chapter Four
CONTEXT
41
42
Context
4.0 Context
4.1 Introduction
In life, events and interactions always occur within context. As Kuutti (1996)
explains, “actions are always situated into a context, and they are impossible to
understand without that context” (Kuutti, 1996 p.26). The experiences of
interactions are influenced by the surrounding context in which it occurs. Context
has implications for the enhancement (or detraction) of the user experience as
our feelings and emotions are shaped by our surrounding situations (Dey,
Abowd, & Salber, 2001; Gallagher, 1994). There is a growing realisation that
“good” design is one that takes into account the changing context of use within
interactions (Dourish, 2001b; Lieberman & Selker, 2000). This aspect, coupled
with the ever-growing development of smaller, portable and more powerful
computing hardware has recently driven studies into context-aware computing
(Dey et al., 2001; Dourish, 2001a).
Although context is known to influence emotions, designers have had limited
amount of information defining how contexts affect emotional experiences during
interactions. This chapter does not specifically describe how context is implicated
in emotional experiences; instead, in an attempt to bridge this gap, it explores the
different levels of contexts, the difference between stable and dynamic contexts
43
in which interactions can subsist and examines how these aspects are relevant to
overall emotional experiences.
4.2 Multiple Levels of Context
Contexts can exist on different levels. Kaptelinin (1996a) identifies two levels, the
first is the human-product interface while the second is the human-product and
physical environment interface. Likewise, Nardi (Nardi, 1996c) describes two
levels of context: internal and external. Internal involves people, composed of
objects (objectives) and goals, while external involves people, artefacts, other
people and specific settings. Other researchers in the field of human-computer
interaction and ubiquitous computing have defined similar levels for context (Dey
et al., 2001; Tamminen, Oulasvirta, Toiskallio, & Kankainen, 2004). There is a
third level in which context can exist, derived from a sociological perspective,
which includes the connection between persons, artefacts, environments, other
people as well as the broader social and cultural settings (Dourish, 2001a).
Although the social and cultural level of context is valid, it is too broad in scope to
be used for this study. As such, within this study, context is characterised as
consisting of two levels, similar to the classification made by Kaptelinin (1996a)
and Nardi (1996c). The first level consists of the interface between human and
product alone. The second level consists of the human and product within the
surrounding physical environment. For instance consider the interaction between
44
Context
a person and a computer in a home environment. One level involves the interface
between the person and the product consisting of keyboard, mouse and screen.
However, the human-product interaction occurs within another broader level; the
interface between human-computer and environment consisting of the
aforementioned aspects as well as space, lighting, temperature, noise-level or
other people. The same can be said for the driving activity. One level comprises
the driver and vehicle while another comprises the driver-vehicle and surrounding
environment.
In order to understand the overall experience of interactions, the second level of
context needs to be acknowledged during interactions. While the first level
provides a good framework for understanding interaction between people and
products, the second level takes into account the users overall intentions and
goals during interactions, as a result reflecting overall experiences more
accurately.
4.3 Nature of Context: Static and Dynamic
An aspect that needs clarification is the nature of contexts in relation to
interaction, which can be classified as either static or dynamic. Within design
contexts have traditionally been characterised as static (Gay & Hembrooke,
2004) and as such, systems and products were usually designed to remain the
same and to be operated within a limited range of physical contexts (Sato, 2003).
45
Nevertheless, as Greenberg (2001) maintains, most human-product interactions
take place within dynamic contexts. Dynamic refers to the changing physical
environment as well the fluid nature of the relationship between user, product and
environment in real life interactions (Greenberg, 2001; Nardi, 1996b; Suchman,
1987). The two aspects of a dynamic context are considered in relation to the
driving activity.
Changing Environment
Many products people interact with are versatile, used in a range of different
situations, at different locations and at different times of the day. As a result, the
physical contexts in which these types of products are used in changes over
time. This applies to many modern-day products and the same can be said for
vehicles since they are driven from one place to another where many elements of
the surrounding environment changes including traffic density, weather, location
and time of day.
Developmental Relationships
Another aspect of a dynamic context is its developmental nature during
interactions (Kaptelinin, 1996b; Kuutti, 1996; Suchman, 1987). A developmental
nature refers to the changing and evolving relationship between human-product
and environment over time. For instance, in fine weather and low traffic
conditions a driver may have no problem interacting with the car’s radio interface.
In bad weather and high traffic situations the driver may decide to wait for an
46
Context
appropriate time to interact with the radio interface since attention is being
diverted. In extreme weather and high traffic conditions the driver may decide
against even attempting to interact with the radio interface. Developmental nature
between human-product and environment not only refers to the surrounding
context, but also to the interaction between human and product across time. For
example, when a person first buys a car, the radio interface may be confusing
because it has never been encountered. However, as the person becomes more
familiar with the car, operating the radio may become easier because many steps
that would have initially confused the user are now performed almost
automatically. In each of these cases, the interaction between driver and
interface is different as the surrounding context changes across different
locations and time.
These are just simple examples, however they illustrate how the different levels
of contexts; human-product and human-product-environment, are connected and
shifting continuously as the interaction evolves over time.
4.4 Summary
Contexts have a significant influence on the overall emotional experience.
Although the importance of contexts in emotional experiences has been
acknowledged (Lieberman & Selker, 2000; Mesken, 2003; Selker & Burleson,
47
2000), there is limited information for designers outlining how context influence
overall emotional experiences during interactions.
To lay the groundwork for understanding the relationship between context and
experiences during interactions, two main issues were examined. Contexts can
be characterised as existing in two distinct levels, a first-level context, which
exists between user and product, and a broader second-level context existing
between user-product and the surrounding environment. The focus in this study
is on the second level context as it reflects the overall experience more
comprehensively. Also, contexts can be static or dynamic in nature. Static
contexts are predictable and stable over time. Dynamic contexts are constantly
changing, both in physical location and in its developmental aspects. Within this
study it is argued that the driving activity occurs within a dynamic context as the
surrounding environment is constantly changing and this change is constantly
affecting the developmental aspects of interaction. This assists in defining and
characterising different features of the overall experience.
48
Modelling the Driving Activity
Chapter Five
MODELLING THE
DRIVING ACTIVITY
49
50
5.0 Modelling the Driving Activity
5.1 Introduction
Chapters three and four explored interactions in relation to emotion and context.
This chapter integrates these aspects by inferring a model that endeavors to
capture overall experiences of interactions, specifically the driving experience.
The focus in this research was on the driving activity for two reasons. First, there
appears to be a gap in the literature dealing with emotional experiences during
interactions between driver and vehicle interface (Mesken, 2001). Second, due to
the large scale use of vehicles around the world people spend a large amount of
time interacting with the vehicle interface, as such, it is important that the vehicle
interface is designed to be enjoyable and pleasurable as well as usable and
functional.
Various theories exist to support the proposed model including situated action
(Suchman, 1987) distributed cognition (Holland, Hutchins, & Kirsh, 2000) and
activity theory (Nardi, 1996b). All three explore the nature of human interaction
within the surrounding environment and emphasize the importance of focusing on
interaction through time. However, activity theory was chosen as the main source
of information since it focuses on the practical and applied side of scientific
research (Nardi, 1996a).
51
5.2 Activity Theory
Modelling overall experiences involves understanding how activities and
interactions develop over time and within context. Petersen et al (2002) note,
current usability methodologies do little to represent or help understand
development of activity through use. Nardi (1996a) illustrates how cognitive
science studies have previously concentrated on the interpretation and
transmission of information, while forgetting the actions of an interaction as it is
being performed. This section presents the main concepts of activity theory that
help to infer the model of the driving experience.
Activity theory attempts to understand the relation between consciousness and
activity (Nardi, 1996a p.). Consciousness refers to intention, a human aspect,
while activities refer to the issue of interaction occurring between human and
artefact over time. The focus is on practice and doing which concerns the
development of activities through time. By concentrating on these issues the
process of interaction between human user and product over time is understood
in a more comprehensive manner, emphasising the overall experience of
interactions.
One of the central aspects of activity theory is the idea that artefacts are
mediators of human activity (Nardi, 1996b). Tools and artefacts are used by
people to achieve a greater goal that usually exist beyond the tool or artefact
52
itself (Kaptelinin, 1996b). Artefacts are the means to an end, not the end itself.
Artefacts humans use are simply mediating interaction instead of being the
central focus of attention during interactions; they exist to help people achieve a
greater goal. This guides the idea that during interactions the focus should be on
the overall activity (the “greater goal”) rather than solely on the actions between
person and artefact. Kuutti (1996) argues that to study real-life situations, instead
of focusing on the actions of users, as in the case of many laboratory
experiments, it is the user’s activities (in context) which should be the basic unit
of investigation. Activities are long-term formations within interactions, while
actions are small, discreet components of activities. As Kuutti (1996) explains,
“actions cannot be understood… without a frame of reference created by the
corresponding activity” (Kuutti, 1996 p.30). In other words, experiences do not
occur in discreet moments of action, but rather form over longer periods of time.
Another point is the importance of the human within interactions. Activity theory
argues that intentions and motives are the primary factors behind activities
(Kuutti, 1996). This emphasises the importance of the human within interactions
because intentions and motives are distinct human characteristics. Intentions are
important factors that need to be considered when trying to understand
behaviours and actions (Malone, 1983). They are the drivers that promote
interactivity between humans and products. Without understanding an
individual’s intention, two different behaviours or actions can seem similar, when
in fact they are distinctly different. Greve (2001) offers an example of this:
53
“Whether a certain hand movement is a greeting, an attempt to swat a fly,
a gymnastics exercise, or even an involuntary muscular reflex depends on
the constituent components of the action, in particular its intention.”
(Greve, 2001 p.436)
It is the why that is important during an action, as well as the what. Conversely,
there is the issue that an act can consist of very different observable movements,
for example to attract someone’s attention, one can tap on the shoulder, wave,
wink, smile, grab another’s arm and many other observable actions. Therefore, it
must be understood that one cannot exclusively observe another’s behaviour to
attain intentions (Greve, 2001). Nevertheless, intentions can be used as the
primary indicator of behaviour when the actions or activities are being conducted
in an unpredictable context (Wood, Quinn, & Kashy, 2002). If the intentions of the
human can be identified at a particular instant within the human-artefact
relationship then it can be used to understand certain aspects of behaviour.
Another significant aspect is the recognition that focusing on activities over time
requires understanding the contexts in which these activities occur. This
particular subject has been summarised in the previous chapter. The main issue
is to recognise that context plays a critical role within the overall experience
attained by the individual and therefore needs to be acknowledged.
54
Activity theory proposes to view the relationship between human, artefact and
environment as reciprocal and dynamic in nature. Although distinctions can be
made between human, artefact and environment these components are
interconnected, constantly affecting and changing each other during interactions
(Kaptelinin, 1996b; Nardi, 1996a). For example, when a person is driving, the
state of the vehicle will affect how the user performs within his or her surrounding
environment. If the environment changes the driver will have to adapt and drive
the vehicle differently. Alternatively, if the driver decides to change where to go,
the surrounding environment and the state of the vehicle will obviously change.
This dynamic relationship always exists within activities and the way they affect
each other is automatic and dependant on the situation.
In summary, the main points presented include:
• Artefacts act as mediators of activities and behaviours
• Focus on use / doing / activity over time
• People have motives / intentions and are not merely agents in a system
• Activities occur within a context
• Human / artefact / environment subsist in a reciprocal relationship
These issues represent the main aspects derived from activity theory that were
used to infer the model of the driving activity.
55
5.2.1 Activities
Activity theorists consider activities as the fundamental unit of study. Activities
can be broken down into three levels consisting of basic operations, which
structure actions, which in turn form activities (Figure 1) (Kuutti, 1996).
Figure 1. Levels of activities (after Kuutti, 1996)
Activities are driven by motives and intentions. Actions are tentatively planned
behaviours that relate to activities. Actions are formed through sets of well-
defined habitual (or learnt) routines called operations, which are in response to
conditions faced while performing actions (Kuutti, 1996). Each of the levels:
activities, actions and operations, are in constant dynamism, affecting and
influencing one another.
Consider the driving activity. Using figure 1 as a framework, the overarching
intent in this instance would be to travel from one location to another. This activity
56
is composed of sets of actions and subsets of operations. Actions consist of
stoping at lights, merging into traffic and turning at intersections. Operations
consist of changing gears, steering and observing other traffic. This illustrates
how activities are formed through actions, which are in-turn formed by
operations.
In section 5.2 it was identified that activities are not fixed or definitive, instead
they are in constant change. An important aspect of the framework is its
flexibility, which takes into account the unpredictable nature of interactions. For
instance, while driving the car may unexpectedly stop. In this case, as the driver
attempts to turn the car back on, the focus is no longer on driving to another
location; instead the focus is shifted to trying to turn the vehicle on. Starting the
vehicle becomes the activity, searching for the problem turns into the action and
the operations become looking at the fuel gauge, attempting to turn the key in the
ignition, looking for smoke coming out of the hood and so on. Once the problem
is fixed, the activity converts back to driving.
5.3 Model of the Driving Activity
The aspects of activity theory in conjunction with the framework for activities were
used to model the driving experience (Figure 2). The model is intended to
capture the human-artefact relationship occurring over time and interactions
within a driving context.
57
Figure 2. Human – Artefact – Activity within surrounding context forms overall experience.
Using activity theory as a theoretical framework, an overall experience (Figure 2)
is composed of humans, artefacts and activities/intentions framed by a
surrounding context. The model attempts to encapsulate and convey several
ideas about interactions based on activity theory, including: different levels of
interaction (micro and macro) between human-artefacts and context, user intent /
artefact as mediators, and the dynamic aspect of interactions. All of these
aspects are relevant to the model and contribute to form an overall experience.
Following is a more in-depth description of each of these concepts.
Micro and Macro Interaction Levels
There are two interaction levels existing within the framework. The first, micro-
interaction level, consists of the interface between user and product (Figure 3,
left). For instance the micro-interaction level within a driving situation is
composed purely of the driver interacting with the vehicle interface.
58
The second, macro-interaction level consists of the user-product within the
surrounding environment (Figure 3, right). In this case the macro-interaction level
consists of driver interacting with vehicle interface in highway traffic. The macro-
interaction level takes into account the physical environment as well as the users
activities with the artefact,.
Figure 3. Micro (left) and Macro (right) interaction levels
User Intent / Artefact as Mediator
The model captures how activities with artefacts are motivated by human
intention. For example a human’s desire to get to work in the morning (intention)
will necessitate the need to drive a vehicle (activity). As a result of this the
artefact becomes a mediator to achieve the human’s intention. The model
presented considers this particular issue by illustrating how activities constitute
intentions and are mediated by an artefact (Figure 3, right). The artefact acts as a
mediator between humans and their activities since the artefact is not the
ultimate concern, rather, it is just and agent that is used to perform activities
through the actions and operations of the user.
59
Dynamic Aspect of Interactions
Interactions are dynamic and evolving. As such, each of the aspects: user,
artefact, activities and surrounding context, are in constant dynamism and
change. The human directs activities with intentions; however, the surrounding
contexts as well as the artefacts themselves are involved in forming activities.
Sometimes, the surrounding context will overpower the intentions of the user and
overwhelm the activity completely. For instance, a person may want to go
shopping using a car. While driving the weather deteriorates and traffic conditions
become dangerous. The driver decides to turn around and drive home, not
wanting to risk a traffic accident. So, regardless of the person’s intention to go
shopping (activity / intention) and access to a car (artefact), the activity is
completely overwhelmed by the surrounding context. Alternatively, the artefact
can affect the experience. Consider the same example of a person intending to
go shopping, instead this time the weather is fine but the car will not start.
Regardless of the person’s intent to go shopping (activity / intention) and the
surrounding conditions permitting, the artefact influences the activity.
These examples are intended to represent a clear-cut account of the dynamism
during an interaction. However, the dynamism between human-artefact-
environment is often more complex in real life. Nevertheless, the important issue
to consider is the idea that what may seem as separate aspects are in-fact
connected and have an affect on one another during the course of an interaction.
60
This framework was used as a foundation to situate human-vehicle interaction
within the driving experience (Chapter 8).
5.4 Summary
This chapter presented a model of the overall driving activity. Activity theory was
the primary source used to support the model.
Several issues from activity theory were considered. Humans are driven to action
by motives and intentions and utilise artefacts to achieve desired goals. Artefacts
are understood to be mediators of human experience. Activities develop and
evolve and as such the focus is on interactions over time, rather than a
momentary point in time. Context also plays an important part in forming activities
and encompasses the overall experience. The relationship between
human/artefact/environment is reciprocal and constantly shifts as interactions
progress. Activities (overarching motives) were defined as long-term formations
composed of actions (intermediate unit of activities), which are in-turn composed
of operations (fundamental unit of activities). The model intends to infer the
overall experience of interactions within the driving context and was utilised to
explore and situate the driving experience. The next chapter describes the
experiment conducted exploring the emotional experience of driving.
61
62
Experiment: Exploring the Driving Experience
Chapter Six
EXPERIMENT: EXPLORING THE
DRIVING EXPERIENCE
63
64
6.0 Experiment: Exploring the Driving Experience
6.1 Introduction
This chapter presents an experiment that was conducted exploring the emotional
experience of driving. Specifically, the focus was on the overall emotional
experience of interaction between driver and vehicle interface within a real driving
situation.
To begin with the concept of emotional experience of driving is explained by
providing an overview of the approach taken for the experiment. A section
describing the theoretical construct used to identify emotions during the
interviews and observations follows. Finally, the method of the study is
presented.
6.2 Emotional Experience of Driving
The experiment performed aimed to investigate the emotional experience of
interaction with the vehicle interface while driving. In doing so, the intention was
to identify some of the aspects that influence the emotional experience of driving.
The experiment was conducted in a real driving situation since the surrounding
context was seen as a critical aspect that will influence how the overall emotional
65
experience will be perceived. Also, researchers have noted the difficulty in
gathering relevant data from lab-based experiments that will be applicable to
real-life situations, “It is quite difficult to estimate the cognitive proficiency of an
individual in a given task, in a real situation, on the basis of lab tests” (Frascara,
1999). Maguire (2001) points out, although many experiments performed in the
laboratory are worthwhile, sometimes the findings do not translate to real-world
situations. This is often due to the fact that something is missing if the experiment
is not performed in its respective context. Consequently, this experiment was
conducted in as real a driving condition as possible as opposed to a closed
track/circuit or virtual environment. This proved to be critical as the surrounding
context formed an important part of the findings and this would not have been
established if the experiment had been conducted in a more controlled situation.
The experiment was organised such that the participant’s emotional condition
was gauged before, during and at the end of the drive by analysing observations,
interviews and think-aloud protocols conducted at different stages throughout the
experiment. This was realized by setting up the experiment in three steps starting
with an initial interview, followed by the drive itself and concluding with a
retrospective interview. This way, any deviations in the participant’s emotional
condition could be established before and after the drive, and the aspects that
affected this deviation during the course of the drive could be investigated.
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The findings from these experiments provided an insight into the emotional
experience of driving as well as identifying its influential factors. The purpose was
to provide a direction for how to design interfaces that will provide positive
emotional experiences during interaction in a variety of circumstances. The
findings provide designers with a better understanding of how to design
interfaces to support positive emotional experiences within the driving context.
6.3 Identifying Emotions
One of the central parts of the experiment was to identify emotions. There were
two stages where emotions were studied including during the interviews and
during the coding of the observations. To identify any type of emotion it was
necessary to work with a basic construct that was easy, accessible and useful.
Russell (2003) provides a basic model for articulating emotions. This model has
previously been used as a foundation for emotions in studies that relate to
emotional response to products (Desmet, 2000, 2002), and emotional expression
during mobile phone use (Fagerberg, Stahl, & Hook, 2004). Russell’s
representation of basic emotions, graphically presented in his model of ‘Core
Affect’ (Russell, 2003), stands on the premise that emotions can be described
using two underlying dimensions:
“At any given moment, the conscious experience (the raw feeling) is a
single blend of two dimensions… the horizontal dimension, pleasure-
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displeasure, ranges from one extreme (e.g. agony) through a neutral point
(adaptation level) to its opposite extreme (e.g. ecstasy)… the vertical
dimension, arousal, ranges from sleep, then drowsiness, through various
stages of alertness to frenetic excitement… Core affect can be neutral (the
centre point), moderate, or extreme (the periphery).”
(Russell, 2003 p.148).
Core affect in this instance describes a state that is consciously accessible as the
fundamental feeling in emotions and mood (Russell, 2003).
Figure 4. Emotional Chart (after Russell, 2003)
Figure 4 represents a modified version of Russell’s original model of Core Affect
(Russell, 2003). It was designed to capture the general feelings of the participant
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at different stages of the experiment. It depicts the horizontal axis of feeling,
labelled happy-unhappy, and the vertical axis of energy, labelled excited-calm.
The words are used as descriptors of emotions that fit into the chart. It also
describes the intensity from neutral (midpoint) to moderate (first set of circles
emanating from the midpoint) through to extreme (periphery of the diagram). For
example, to articulate a moderate feeling of annoyed on the chart it would be
placed in the middle of the line in-between ‘tense/jittery’ and upset/distressed’
(Figure 5, left). To articulate an intense feeling of happiness, it would be placed
furthest out from the centre along the line leading to ‘happy’ (Figure 5, right).
Figure 5. Examples of Emotional Chart representing moderate feeling of annoyed (left) and
intense feeling of happiness (right)
An aspect of this model is that emotions can be classified into positive and
negative (Figure 6). The right hemisphere represents positive emotions while the
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left represents negative emotions. This chart was used to study emotions at
different stages within the study.
Figure 6. Hemispheres for negative and positive emotions
6.4 Method
The experiment methodology was based on a data triangulation approach
(Denzin, 1989) consisting of observations, interviews and think-aloud protocols.
According to Robson (2002) data triangulation can help to counter particular
threats to the validity of the experiment because it offers the researcher a variety
of different channels to acquire and analyse data. The only foreseeable
disadvantage of using this type of approach is that the information from the
different sources may be conflicting; however this was not a problem because
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during the analyses stage the data between interviews, observations and think-
aloud protocols corresponded with each other.
To assist in determining the emotions experienced by the participant, physical
and behavioural responses (facial expressions, vocal expression and bodily
behaviour) in conjunction with self-report methods were explored. The reason for
gathering physical and behavioural data from a variety of sources is that
according to some authors (Frijda, 1986; Johnstone & Scherer, 2000; Picard,
1997) emotions are entities of a multi-component nature such that a person will
normally express emotions using a number of bodily behaviour channels (Flack,
Laird, & Cavallaro, 1999). For instance, an emotion can be misjudged when
simply looking at another’s facial expression. However, it is possible to infer
another’s emotional state by observing a range of physical and behavioural
expressions. Furthermore, there is evidence within the literature to support this
particular combined approach to measure emotions within real traffic situations
(Mesken, 2001) since they are easily observable, easily accessible and do not
require a large amount of equipment compared to studying physiological
reactions of emotions. There are some problems in trying to identify emotions
using these sources of data individually as people are able to manipulate their
emotional expressions as well as what they self-report. However, since all of the
methods were used in conjunction with each other, it was less likely that
participants would be able to manipulate all of them. For these reasons, it was
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judged that reliable results would be obtained using this combined approach than
what would be gained by simply utilising one technique.
Participants
Fifteen participants took place in the experiments consisting of eight males and
seven females. Participants were full-time staff members of Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) from the School of Design and Built
Environment. The participants represented a good cross-section of the driving
population with ages ranging from 24 to 50. They were also selected because
they were able to obtain the required license to drive the QUT-owned vehicles
used throughout the experiment. The participants were asked to volunteer their
time and were not paid for their participation.
Equipment
All of the experiments were conducted using QUT owned vehicles. A Toyota
Corolla hatchback 2000 model (Figure 7) was used for fourteen experiments
while a Toyota Camry wagon 2000 model (Figure 8) was used for one
experiment. This was due to the available time and availability of vehicles at the
university. Although one experiment utilised a different vehicle (Toyota Camry),
the buttons and controls the driver interacted with were the same (Figure 7 and
8).
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Figure 7. Toyota Corolla interior
Figure 8. Toyota Camry interior
Two video capturing devices were used to record the visual and audio data from
the experiment. A mini digital video (DV) camera fixed on a tripod was situated
on the back seat (Figure 9). This was used to record the participant’s bodily
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behaviour and their physical interaction with the interface. In addition, a web
camera was located on the dashboard (Figure 10) to record the participant’s
facial expression during the drive. This web camera was connected to a laptop
that was positioned on the passenger seat. The image from the two videos were
then mixed into one file (Figure 11) and used during the analysis stage of the
experiment.
Figure 9. Mini digital camera set-up
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Figure 10. Web-cam and laptop set-up
Figure 11. Two video sources mixed
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Procedure
The recruitment process was done by means of introductory emails sent out to
staff members from the School of Design and Built Environment asking if they
would like to participation in the experiments. Staff members that responded to
this email were sent an information package (Appendix A) explaining the aims,
methods and expected results of the experiment. This helped the participants
understand from a very early stage what the experiment was about, as well their
involvement in the experiment. Furthermore, they were asked to sign a consent
form (Appendix A) which they were required to bring with them to the experiment
should they choose to participate.
As explained earlier, the experiment was organised in three steps consisting of
an initial interview, followed by the drive itself where the observation and think-
aloud protocol was conducted, and a retrospective interview. The purpose of
using this three-step process was to determine the overall emotional experience
attained by the participant. This was achieved by analysing the initial emotional
state (initial interview) in relation to the participant’s final emotional state
(retrospective interview). Interactions while driving (observation stage) were also
analysed to determine how they affected the overall emotional experience.
Following is the details of each of the three steps performed during the
experiment.
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(a) Initial Interview
Prior to driving, participants were given a short semi-structured interview
(Appendix B). This initial interview was primarily set up to record their emotional
state prior to the drive by noting their emotions on the emotional chart (Figure
12). General questions about themselves and about previous driving experiences
were also obtained.
Figure 12. Example of initial interview and emotions recorded on the emotional chart
(b) Observation and Think Aloud Protocol
The participants were then asked to drive around a specified route in and around
the central business district of Brisbane, which took them through a low-traffic
area, a medium-traffic area and a high-traffic area (Figure 13). To keep the study
as consistent as possible, the test for all of the participants was performed
between 11:00am and 2:00pm.
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Figure 13. Driving route indicating low, medium and high-traffic areas (University of Queensland,
2005)
78
Participants were asked to perform specific tasks during the drive, including:
• Turning on the radio
• Tuning to 97.3fm radio station
• Inserting a CD
• Playing a specific track on the CD
• Turning on the air-conditioning
• Adjusting the air-conditioning features to suit their needs
• Washing the front and back windscreen with water and wipers
The reason for choosing these tasks was because they represent common,
everyday activities that people perform in vehicles. The participants could
perform these tasks in any order they liked and whenever they felt safe to
execute them. Participants performed the activities evenly throughout the drive.
Participants were also asked to think-aloud and verbally express what they were
feeling about the tasks as they were performing them. During the drive the
experimenter was seated in the back seat of the vehicle to aid the participant with
directions as well as remind them of the tasks they were required to perform.
During the drive participants remembered to perform the majority of the tasks but
often forgot one or two of them and asked the experimenter which tasks they had
overlooked. The experimenter reminded them of the tasks and also re-stated that
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they could perform them in any order and at any time they felt comfortable and
safe to do so. The drive took approximately twenty minutes to complete.
(c) Retrospective Interviews
Immediately following the drive a retrospective semi-structured interview
(Appendix C) was conducted primarily aimed at gauging the participant’s
emotional state. To do this, participants were asked to note how they felt on an
emotional chart (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Example of retrospective interview and emotions recorded on the emotional chart
They were asked to explain why they felt the way they did about the overall drive.
Questions concerning how they felt regarding each of the activities they
performed during the drive were also asked.
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6.5 Summary
This chapter described the experiment performed, which focused on the overall
emotional experience of driving in a real situation. The aim was to collect data
about the emotional experience perceived by the driver and the factors that
influenced this. The fundamental construct for identifying emotions within the
experiment was presented. The experiment was described along with the data
triangulation method used, consisting of interviews, observations, and think-aloud
protocols. The next chapter describes the analysis of the data.
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Analysis
Chapter Seven
ANALYSIS
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7.0 Analysis
7.1 Introduction
To explore the emotional experience of driving, it was necessary to identify the
emotions of participants during the interviews and observations. Data obtained
was in video, audio and written format and was qualitative in nature. This chapter
covers coding and data analysis.
7.2 Analysing Emotions
As explained in section 6.4 the study was set-up in three basic steps. Emotions
were analysed at each of these stages using different techniques. During the
interviews (initial and retrospective) and think-aloud protocol, self-report methods
were used to identify the participant’s emotions. During the observation stage,
bodily expressions were used to identify emotions. Table 1 summarises the
different stages of the experiment and the methods used to identify emotions at
each stage. This section highlights how emotions were analysed using self-report
method and bodily expressions during the different stages of the experiment.
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Table 1. Methods used to identify emotions at different stages of the experiment
Stage Method Used
Initial Interview Emotional Chart - Self-report

(Participant noted emotional
state on emotional chart)
Observation Think-aloud protocol - Self-report

(Verbal report of emotions
while driving)
Bodily expression - Bodily expression

(Analysed emotions primarily
using facial expressions using
vocal and gesture expressions
for support)
Retrospective Interview Emotional Chart - Self-report

(Participant noted emotional
state on emotional chart in
conjunction with verbally
reporting the reasons why they
felt the way they did)
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Emotional Self-Report
As shown in Table 1 there were different stages in the experiment where
participants were required to self-report on their emotional state. Self-report was
used during the observation stage. Participants were asked to perform a think-
aloud protocol during interaction with the car interface, requiring them to
verbalise their emotions as they experienced them. For instance if a participant
interacted with the radio and they experienced frustration they were asked to
verbalise their feelings and emotions in words. Robinson and Clore (2002)
termed this type of information retrieval as ‘experiential knowledge’. The
advantage of this type of information retrieval is that participants are recovering
information about how they are feeling at that point in time, thus making it more
likely that they are describing their current emotional state appropriately.
Participants were also required to self-report during the initial and retrospective
interviews conducted before and after the drive. In the initial interview,
participants were required to self-report their emotions on the emotional chart.
The same occurred during the retrospective interview. In addition, participants
were required to verbally report on their emotional state at the end of the drive as
well as recall how they were feeling during each of the tasks performed.
Robinson and Clore (2002) describe this as ‘episodic memory’ retrieval, which
involves trying to report on specific moments from the past. Some problems arise
with this type of retrieval because as time elapses loss of information may occur
and the emotion described may be different to what it actually was. However,
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reporting of emotions at this stage was only used to support the actual emotions
experienced while driving.
As Brave and Nass (2002) observe self-report is an effective technique that has
been used to measure emotions, “Post-interaction questionnaires, in fact,
currently serve as the primary method for ascertaining emotion, mood and
sentiment during an interaction” (Brave & Nass, 2002 p.31). Certain authors have
gone as far as to say that self-reports is possibly the best method to measure
emotional experiences (Robinson & Clore, 2002). Nevertheless, self-report
methods present distinct challenges if used exclusively to measure emotions.
The most pertinent problem that arises with self-reporting is that only the
conscious experience of the emotion or mood can be measured and that
answers provided by participants about their personal feelings and emotions may
be misleading as they are filtered as to what they may consider to be socially
acceptable. However, the self-report method was not used exclusively, instead it
was used in conjunction with the observations to help overcome these problems.
Physical Expressions of Emotions
The participant’s physical bodily expressions were examined to assist in
determining the emotions experienced. Physical expressions and actions are the
primary means by which humans express or communicate emotions (Brave &
Nass, 2002; Darwin, 1965; Frijda, 1986; Lewis & Haviland-Jones, 2000;
Mehrabian, 1981).
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The focus in the experiment was on facial expressions while vocal intonations
and body movement and gestures were used as support. Facial expressions are
a fundamental and natural way humans read and detect emotions and can
therefore be used as a source to help identify basic emotions (Brave & Nass,
2002). Voice is another means by which to further evaluate a particular emotion
(Scherer, 2003). Picard (1997) notes that young babies can recognize emotions
through voice intonation and volume before understanding language
emphasising the fact that voice plays an important role in communicating
emotions. Body postures and gestures are also linked to emotions (Wallbott,
1998).
These behavioural indicators are not independent of each other or of the
particular circumstance so it is important to examine them collectively to
understand what emotion has been experienced and expressed by the individual.
For example some researchers argue using only facial expressions to identify
emotions is not appropriate as facial expression can be misinterpreted, some are
not consistent across different cultures while others do not elicit any facial
expressions at all (Russell, 1995). Thus, to provide a reliable prediction of the
type of emotion elicited required examining all three components in relation to
each other and relative to the context of the situation. Table 2 summarises the
work of several researchers (Brave & Nass, 2002; Frijda, 1988; Johnstone &
Scherer, 2000; Wallbott, 1998) and describes emotions (relating to the emotional
chart presented in section 6.3) and the associated facial, vocal and bodily
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expressions corresponding with the emotion. The information from this table was
used throughout the coding stage of the experiment to identify emotions
expressed by the participants from the observations.
Table 2. Emotion and Facial, Vocal and Body Expressions
Emotion Facial Vocal Body
Focused/ • Horizontal frown – • Slight head

Concentration (when puzzled or movement toward
confused) object
• Increasing attention
and force to object
Excited
• Increased • Faster speech rate • Head movement
concentration on • Higher intensity toward object
object through facial • Increase in
behaviour articulation rate
• Eyebrows slightly
raised
(Extravagantly
expressed, expectation
to act in some way)
Ebullient • Faster speech rate • Head movement

• Increased
• Higher pitch average backwards
concentration on
• Higher intensity • High movement
object through facial
behaviour • Increase in activity
articulation rate • Expansive
• Eyebrows raised
movements
• High movement
dynamics
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Table 2 continued
Elated • Increased • Head movement

concentration on backwards
• Faster speech rate
object through facial • High movement
behaviour • Higher pitch average
activity
• Delighted gaze • Higher intensity
• Expansive
• Relaxed eyes • Increase in movements
articulation rate
• Eyebrows slightly • High movement
raised dynamics
• Open mouth
• Smile
• Laughter (not
always)
Happiness • Relaxed eyes • Faster or slower • Low movement

• Relaxed eyebrows speech rate dynamics
• Compression of • Much higher pitch
muscles under skin average
• Smile (not always) • Higher intensity
• Relaxed mouth • Breathy, blaring
voice quality
• Normal articulation
Contented • Relaxed eyes – • Low movement

• Relaxed eyebrows dynamics
• Smile (not always)
• Relaxed mouth
Calm • Relaxed eyes – • Low movement

• Relaxed eyebrows dynamics
Tired – • Slower speech rate • Low movement

activity
• Inexpansive
movements
• Low movement
dynamics
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Table 2 continued
Unhappy Silent passive sadness • Slightly slower • Low movement

• Depressed corners speech rate dynamics
of mouth • Slightly lower pitch
• Downcast eyes average
• Passiveness • Higher intensity
(absence of interest) • Resonant voice
quality
Withdrawal sadness • Slurring articulation
(grief)
• Eyebrows drawn
downwards or
oblique eyebrows
• Agitations and
restlessness
Distressed • Expansive
• Higher pitch rate
movements
• Higher intensity
Tense • Frowning of the • Higher pitch rate • Expansive

mouth may occur • Higher intensity movements
• Bending of head
Jittery – • Higher pitch rate • Expansive

• Higher intensity movements
7.3 Coding of Data
The coding of the data was supported using a professional behavioural analysis
computer program called The Observer (v.5). The subject, behaviours and
activities and corresponding emotional response were recorded during the drive.
Subjects were entered individually corresponding with the order in which they
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performed the experiment. The video data required a coding scheme that would
be used to classify the various aspects of the driving activity including emotions,
activities, and traffic context. Table 3 displays the breakdown of the coding
scheme used.
Table 3. Coding system of observations
Behavioural classes Behaviours Modifiers
Emotions Neutral excited

Happy excited
Happy
Happy calm Low
Neutral calm Average
Unhappy calm High
Unhappy
Unhappy excited
Activities Correct (physical) interaction Radio

Incorrect (physical) interaction Compact Disc
Visual interaction Front windscreen wiper
Driving Back windscreen wiper
Air conditioning
Context Leaving QUT

Freeway Low
Inner city Bypass Medium
City High
The data was coded by one researcher on two occasions using the coding
system presented (Table 3). The coding sessions were performed in two blocks.
The first eight participants were coded over a period of two weeks. The data from
the remaining seven participants were coded approximately three months later
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over a period of one week. The same coding system was used for all fifteen
participants.
The categories for coding consisted of behavioural classes, their corresponding
behaviours, and a category labelled modifiers. Emotions were split into the
behaviours of neutral excited, happy excited, happy, happy calm, neutral calm,
unhappy calm, unhappy, and unhappy excited (Figure 15) which were used as
labels for the coding of the different segments of the emotional chart (Figure 4
p.68) presented in section 6.3. These behaviours were further defined into the
modifiers of low, medium or high, relating to the intensity of the emotional
expressions.
Figure 15. Labels for the different segments of the emotional chart used for coding
Activities were split into behaviours defined as correct interactions, incorrect
interaction, visual interaction, and driving. Correct interaction was coded when
the participant’s intention (through physical interaction) was achieved without any
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Analysis
problems while performing tasks with the interface. For instance when a
participant wanted to switch the radio on and pressed the correct button to
achieve this task, ‘correct interaction’ would be coded. Incorrect interaction
referred to an action where the participant made an error (through physical
interaction) or could not perform the intended activity while performing tasks with
the interface. For instance, ‘incorrect interaction’ would be coded if the participant
wanted to turn on the air conditioning but pressed an incorrect button. Visual
Interaction referred to an action between the participant and the interface that
was purely visual. The final behaviour was driving, which was used to code the
periods when the participant was doing anything else other than the tasks
required. The modifiers for these activities corresponded to features of the
vehicle interface the participants were required to interact with including radio,
compact disc, front windscreen wiper, back windscreen wiper and air
conditioning.
Context was split into behaviours that related to the four traffic density areas of
the route (Table 3 p.93 and Figure 13 p.78). These consisted of Driving out of
QUT, Freeway, Inner City Bypass and finally driving through Brisbane City
centre. The modifiers were defined into low, medium and high. These referred to
the traffic congestion level of the different areas. Leaving QUT, was defined as
low-traffic context, Freeway and Inner City Bypass were defined as medium-
traffic context while City was defined as high-traffic context.
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For the coding to function appropriately within the Observer software, the
behaviours and modifiers within a behavioural class had to be mutually exclusive
and exhaustive. This meant that only a single behaviour and modifier from a
particular behavioural class could be active at one time. If a new code
corresponding to the same behavioural class was entered, the previous code
would be automatically deactivated. For example, consider an instance when a
participant is driving in a high context area. The participant intends to turn the
radio on but on her first attempt can’t find the ‘on’ button (Figure 16, left image). A
few seconds later, she turns the radio on (Figure 16, middle image) and smiles
contently as she hears the music coming through the speakers (Figure 16, right
image).
Figure 16. Example of coding sequence
Observer automatically affixed all the codes with a time stamp to produce
information about the location in time and the duration of any activity being
recorded. Detailed coding could be achieved since the video could be paused,
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played at a slower speed and rewound if required. After the coding was
performed for each participant, time-event tables and time-event plots of the
stored data could be produced.
Figure 17. Portion of participant 8 time-event table
Figure 17 demonstrates an example of a time-event table (participant 8). The
time event table is a sequential listing of the recorded events from the
observations. In this instance, the table consists of columns (from left to right)
indicating the start time of an event, subject, behaviour, behavioural class,
modifier, end time of the event and overall duration (in seconds) of the event. The
highlighted section refers to the codes represented in the time-event plot in figure
18.
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Figure 18. Portion of participant 8 time-event plot
The time-event plot is a graphical representation of the information on the
corresponding time-event table. Figure 18 is an example of participant 8 time-
event plot, (first 60 seconds) showing behaviours plotted horizontally against a
time axis (in seconds). The multi-coloured lines represent the sequence of
behaviours. The uppermost line corresponds to context, the middle line
represents activities and the bottom line represents emotions. Each code is
represented in a different colour (shown in the legend) with a length that
corresponds to its duration. The time-event tables and plots were used to obtain
different sets of data for the findings.
7.3.1 Analysing Coded Data from Observations
The time-event plots for each participant were examined to determine how
emotions elicited while performing activities within each traffic context affected
the overall emotional experience. This process involved separating the time-
event plots into low, medium, and high-traffic context. Within each context the
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amount of time performing the various activities (Table 3 p.93) was established.
The amount of time expressing the various emotions as per the coding scheme
(Figure 15) was also determined within each context.
Figure 19. Portion of participant 2 time-event plot showing time segments in seconds for activities
and emotions in a low-traffic context
Figure 19 is a portion (first 140 seconds) of the time-event plot for participant 2
(to see the full results for each context refer to Tables 4, 5 and 6). It
demonstrates how the amount of time (seconds) for activities and emotions was
calculated using the timeline. For instance, looking at the tasks/activities timeline,
the first 92 seconds (grey bar) were spent driving, the next 4 seconds (sky blue
bar) were spent visually interacting with the vehicle interface and the following 3
seconds (red bar) were spent performing incorrect interactions. In the emotions
timeline, the first 5 seconds (orange bar) were coded as happy excited, the next
25 seconds (red bar) were coded as unhappy excited, while the following 6
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seconds (white bar) were coded as neutral calm. During this part of the process
emotions were grouped together into four main categories consisting happy,
unhappy, calm and concentrated (Figure 20). This was performed due to
similarities across different emotions.
Figure 20. Categories of emotional chart
Happy, happy-excited and happy-calm were grouped into “Happy” category.
Unhappy, unhappy-excited and unhappy-calm were grouped into “Unhappy”
category. Neutral-excited was categorised as “Concentration” and neutral-calm
as “Calm”. The proportion of time for each activity and emotion in relation to the
overall time of the corresponding context was calculated. This process was done
to determine how the emotions and activities performed within each context
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influenced the overall emotional experience. The following section outlines how
this was performed.
Analysing Emotions and Activities in relation to Context
The following tables demonstrate the proportion of time for activities and
emotions within a low-traffic context (Table 4), medium-traffic context (Table 5)
and a high-traffic context (Table 6) using data from participant 2. This information
was used to determine how emotions and activities affected the overall emotional
experience of the driving activity. The relevant information was the overall time of
each of the behaviours.
Table 4. Proportion of time for activities and emotions in low-traffic context

(Overall time spent in low-traffic context = 352 seconds)
Time segments Sum of time Proportion of

(s) segments overall time
(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy - - -
Happy 5, 9, 2, 7, 10, 65 98 28%
Concentration 21, 21, 9, 3, 12, 4, 9, 2, 15, 144 41%

Low-traffic Context
13, 11, 4, 3, 14, 3
Calm 6, 30, 8, 49, 17 110 31%
Activities
Driving 92, 3, 5, 2, 50, 133 285 81%
Visual 4, 2, 4, 7 17 5%
Incorrect interaction 3, 4, 1 8 2%
Correct interaction 13, 6, 13, 6, 4 42 12%
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Table 5. Proportion of time for activities and emotions in medium-traffic context

(Overall time spent in medium-traffic context = 174 seconds)

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 6, 4 10 6%
Happy - - -
Medium-traffic Context
Concentration 4, 10, 3, 21, 11, 5, 12, 3, 4, 84 48%

5, 6
Calm 29, 11, 40 80 46%
Activities
Driving 117, 11, 2, 14, 3 147 84%
Visual 3, 5 8 5%
Incorrect interaction - - -
Table 6. Proportion of time for activities and emotions in high-traffic context

(Overall time spent in high-traffic context = 239 seconds)

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 6 6 2%
Happy 2, 5, 4 11 5%
High-traffic Context
Concentration 2, 4, 6, 2, 2, 9, 36, 15 76 32%
Calm 17, 8, 15, 29, 77 146 61%
Activities
Driving 57, 7, 15, 7, 117 203 85%
Visual 7, 1, 2, 5, 2, 2 19 8%
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The columns for each table read (from left to right); traffic context, the different
activities and emotions, the time segments for each activity/emotion recorded,
the sum of the time segments, and the proportion they represent within the
overall time for that particular context. Proportion was calculated by dividing the
sum of the time segments for activity/emotion over the overall time of the context
and multiplying it by 100. For instance, table 4 shows that the sum of the time
segments for the activity of driving equalled 285 seconds. The overall time spent
in this context was 352 seconds. Therefore the proportion of overall time can be
calculated as 81%.
This process was performed for the entire driving experience of all fifteen
participants involved in the experiment. Once this was complete, the relationship
between the proportions of activities/emotions within each context in relation to
the overall emotional experience was studied. The results from this analysis are
discussed in chapter eight.
Classifying Overall Emotional Experiences
The next step involved analysing the overall emotional experience for each
participant. It was established that the overall emotional experience could be
classified as negative, neutral or positive depending on the difference between
the emotional condition before the drive and the emotional condition after the
drive.
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Participants were asked to note how they felt during the initial and retrospective
interviews (Table 1 p.86). A negative overall experience was characterised by a
negative change in the emotional condition before and after the drive. If
participants recorded their emotional condition as positive before the drive and
negative after the drive (Figure 21), the change was negative in nature therefore
the overall experience was classified as negative.
Figure 21. Negative change in emotional condition before and after driving
A positive overall experience was characterised by a positive change in the
emotional condition before and after driving. If participants recorded their
emotional condition as negative before the drive and positive after the drive
(Figure 22), the change was positive in nature thus the overall experience was
classified as positive.
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Analysis
Figure 22. Positive change in emotional condition before and after driving
A neutral overall experience was characterised by an indistinguishable difference
between the initial emotional condition and the final emotional condition (Figure
23).
Figure 23. Neutral change in emotional condition before and after driving
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7.4 Summary
This section outlined the process involved in analysing the data obtained from the
experiments. Self-report methods and observing bodily behaviours were the
methods used to analyse emotions throughout the experiments. The coding
scheme used was presented. Data was coded into emotions, activities and
driving contexts. This data was then analysed to identify different aspects of the
driving activity including how context affected the overall emotional experience as
well as how the overall emotional experience perceived was characterised. The
following section presents the findings from the experiments.
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Findings
Chapter Eight
FINDINGS
107
108
Findings
8.0 Findings
8.1 Introduction
This chapter reviews the main findings from the experiments. The findings
demonstrate that it is the context in combination with the emotional state of the
driver prior to driving that determines the overall emotional experience perceived
by the driver. These findings support the two interaction levels identified in the
model of the driving activity (Figure 3 p.59). Within the driving activity two levels
of interaction exist; the micro-level, which consists of the driver and vehicle
interface (Figure 3, left p.59) and the macro-level consisting of the driver and
vehicle interface within the surrounding environment (Figure 3, right p.59).
This chapter goes on to outline two issues. First, from a macro-level view, the
effect of context and the emotional state prior to driving on the overall emotional
experience is discussed. Second, from a micro-level view, the implications of
different activities on the emotions of the driver while driving are outlined.
8.2 Overall Emotional Experience: Impact of Context and Emotional
Condition before Driving
This section discusses the impact of interactions in high-traffic context in
combination with the emotional condition of the driver prior to driving have on the
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overall emotional experience perceived. Findings revealed that the emotions
elicited during interaction with the vehicle in high-traffic context are remembered
and had a significant impact on the overall emotional experience perceived by
the individual (Gomez, Popovic, & Bucolo, 2004b). In combination with context,
the emotional condition of the driver prior to driving affected the overall emotional
experience by the individual (Gomez, Popovic, & Bucolo, 2004a).
Overall fifteen participants were studied; six participants experienced a neutral
overall emotional experience, six experienced a negative overall emotional
experience while three participants experienced a positive overall emotional
experience. To illustrate three characteristic examples are presented. The first
example demonstrates an overall neutral experience the second example an
overall negative experience while the third demonstrates an overall positive
experience.
Neutral Experience – Characteristic Example
This section presents a characteristic example of a neutral experience. A positive
emotional state before driving in combination with no significant incorrect
interactions with the interface in high-traffic contexts resulted in an overall neutral
experience.
The data presented here is taken from participant 12. To begin with, the
participant’s overall emotional experience was established. This required
110
Findings
comparing their emotional condition before the drive in relation to their emotional
condition after the drive (Section 7.3.1). In this instance during the initial interview
and retrospective interviews the participant recorded a calm emotional state
(Figure 24).
Figure 24. Participant 12: emotional state before (left) and after (right) driving
Comparing the emotional state before the drive and after the drive indicated that
participant 12 had experienced an overall neutral emotional experience. Next, the
observations were analysed and a time-event plot was produced. The time-event
plot was used to determine how the emotions and activities in each context
affected the overall experience. The overall proportions of time for activities and
emotions within each context were calculated following the same method
explained in section 7.3.1. Three tables (Table 7, 8 and 9) present the data from
the observations of participant 12 in the different traffic contexts.
111


(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 7, 2 9 3%
Happy 17, 3 20 6%
Concentration 42, 25, 4, 3, 19, 8, 9, 10, 163 52%

Low-traffic Context
10, 12, 9, 2, 10
Calm 24, 17, 34, 10, 3, 7, 10, 15 120 39%
Activities
Driving 164, 27, 19, 1, 25 236 76%
Visual 4, 2, 5, 3, 6 20 6%
Incorrect interaction 2, 19 21 7%
Correct interaction 13, 3, 7, 12 35 11%


(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 4, 6, 6, 2 18 6%
Happy 2, 4, 4 10 3%
Concentration 4, 3, 10, 5, 5, 6, 3, 7, 4, 4, 1, 121 40%

3, 10, 6, 3, 4, 9, 2, 6, 6, 4
Calm 10, 27, 22, 4, 3, 25, 31, 9, 1, 152 51%

20
Activities
Driving 21, 2, 1, 61, 6, 1, 79, 4, 2, 1, 232 77%

54
Visual 3, 16, 2, 1, 1, 7, 6, 2, 8, 2, 2, 51 17%

1
Correct interaction 2, 4, 6 12 4%
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Findings


(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy - - -
Happy 2, 4, 6 12 4%
Concentration 2, 5, 7, 1, 3, 7, 3, 2, 2, 7, 53 18%
10, 5
Calm 11, 14, 25, 6, 40, 53, 81 230 78%
Activities
Driving 31, 56, 90, 5, 77 259 88%
Visual 5, 3, 5, 2, 2 17 6%
Incorrect interaction 3 3 1%
Figure 25 shows the overall driving experience from left to right (before the drive
and after the drive respectively) and data from Tables 7, 8 and 9 in a graphical
format. The small characters represent the participant and his feelings before and
after the drive. The coloured blocks represent the proportions of the activities and
emotions within each context. The top segments represent emotions while the
bottom represents activities. The size of each coloured block corresponds to the
proportions of the activity/emotion within the context. For example, in the high-
traffic context, participant 12 made correct interactions with the vehicle interface
5% of the time (depicted by the blue band of colour in the activity segments).
Also, in the high-traffic context the participant felt happy 4% of the time (depicted
in yellow in the emotions segments).
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Figure 25. Participant 12: a neutral overall experience showing proportions of emotions and
activities in low, medium and high-traffic contexts
During the retrospective interview participant 12 described the driving
experience:
“…Wasn’t stressful. Tasks weren’t hard. Probably wouldn’t do windscreen
wiping while driving (which occurred within high-traffic context)… enjoy
driving new car”
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Findings
The information about the perceived driving experience by the participant
illustrates two interesting points. Although incorrect interactions were performed
in low and medium-traffic context, the participant did not refer to them in the
retrospective interview, instead he referred to the windscreen wipers, an activity
performed in high-traffic context. Another interesting aspect is that the mere
absence of problems during interaction with the interface in high-traffic contexts
did not elicit positive overall emotional experience. A positive emotional state
prior to driving in combination with no significant incorrect interaction in high
traffic context resulted in a neutral overall emotional experience (Figure 25). The
same pattern occurred for participants that underwent a neutral overall
experience including participant 2, 5, 10, 11, 12, and 14.
Negative Experience – Characteristic Example
This section presents a characteristic example of a negative experience. A
positive emotional state before driving in combination with significant incorrect
interactions with the interface in high-traffic contexts resulted in an overall
negative experience.
The data presented here is taken from participant 1. The process was the same
across the analysis of the experiment so to begin with the overall emotional
experience was identified (Figure 26).
115
Comparing the emotional state before the drive and after the drive indicated that
the participant in this instance underwent an overall negative emotional
experience. Next, the observations were analysed. The overall proportions of
time for activities and emotions within each context were calculated following the
same method explained in section 7.3.1. The following tables (Table 10, 11 and
12) present the data from the observations of participant 1 according to the
different traffic contexts.
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Findings

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy - - -
Happy 9 9 4%
Low-traffic Context
Concentration 19, 11, 4 34 14%
Calm 76, 32, 88 196 82%
Activities
Driving 239 239 100%
Visual - - -
Correct interaction - - -

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 6, 3, 4 13 7%
Happy 3, 4, 2 9 5%
Concentration 10, 9, 1, 5, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 4, 72 41%

11, 4, 5
Calm 4, 32, 15, 7, 5, 20 83 47%
Activities
Driving 46, 30, 1, 9, 3, 7, 32 128 72%
Visual 4, 1, 4 9 5%
Correct interaction 2, 18, 7, 3 30 17%
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(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 5, 3, 13 21 5%
Happy - - -
Concentration 1, 3, 8, 6, 8, 6, 6, 9, 7, 11, 181 47%

41, 3, 5, 62, 5
Calm 33, 24, 10, 18, 23, 16, 8, 184 48%

45, 7
Activities
Driving 34, 65, 2, 22, 26, 200 349 90%
Visual 6 6 2%
and after the drive respectively) and data from Tables 10, 11 and 12 in a
graphical format.
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Findings
Figure 27. Participant 1: a negative overall experience showing proportions of emotions and
During the retrospective interview participant 1 referred to a specific instance in
the high-traffic context where difficulty was experienced with a task:
“Felt tense… felt apprehensive. Appreciated stopping at lights because that
gives me time to change and experience the features, without having to worry
about traffic… felt I had more control. However it still did annoy me (this
description was referring to incorrect interactions performed during high traffic
situation)”
119
This example illustrates that she remembered clearly the negative emotions and
the problems experienced in the high-traffic context. The participant did not
comment on any of the incorrect interactions or negative feelings experienced in
low and medium-traffic contexts. A positive emotional state prior to driving in
combination with incorrect interactions in high traffic context resulted in a neutral
overall emotional experience (Figure 27). The same pattern was found for
participant’s that underwent negative overall experiences including participant 1,
3, 4, 6, 7 and 8.
Positive Emotional Experience – Characteristic Example
This section presents a characteristic example of a positive experience. A
negative emotional state before driving in combination with incorrect interactions
with the interface in high-traffic contexts resulted in an overall positive
experience. It must be noted that the participants were able to overcome the
challenges with the interface. It seems that the positive emotions of achievement
and success associated with overcoming these challenges elicited the positive
emotional experience as opposed to the incorrect interactions itself.
The data for this example is taken from participant 15. To begin with the overall
emotional experience was identified (Figure 28). Comparing the emotional state
before the drive and after the drive indicated an overall positive emotional
experience.
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Findings
Next, the observations were analysed. The overall proportions of time for
activities and emotions within each context were calculated following the method
explained in section 7.3.1. The following tables (Table 13, 14 and 15) present the
data from the observations of participant 15 in the different traffic context.
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(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 2 2 - (insignificant)
Happy 7, 7, 7, 3 24 9%
Concentration 7, 20, 23, 10, 5, 7, 10, 3, 2, 120 45%

Low-traffic Context
5, 13, 13, 2
Calm 10, 4, 11, 16, 15, 6, 9, 4, 122 46%

30, 6, 11
Activities
Driving 40, 157, 30 227 85%
Visual 6, 14, 4, 7 31 11%
Incorrect interaction 7 7 3%
Correct interaction 3 3 1%

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 3, 2, 2 7 3%
Happy 5, 2, 6 13 5%
Concentration 3, 5, 11, 8, 3, 1, 10, 6, 2, 7, 87 33%

4, 1, 7, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, 2
Calm 12, 6, 12, 7, 6, 26, 33, 27, 154 59%

11, 14
Activities
Driving 30, 1, 7, 6, 138, 3, 27 212 81%
Visual 2, 1, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2 21 8%
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Findings

(s) (%)
Emotions
Unhappy 2, 8, 1, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 43 7%
4, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 2
Happy 6, 2, 1, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 73 13%
3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, 3, 2, 3, 4
Concentration 19, 4, 4, 7, 5, 7, 16, 2, 5, 3, 236 41%

23, 3, 1, 1, 3, 8, 7, 4, 5, 3,
4, 3, 3, 6, 4, 6, 5, 6, 7, 4,
10, 2, 7, 1, 8, 2, 3, 6, 5, 5,
2, 7
Calm 2, 3, 2, 20, 27, 11, 3, 6, 34, 228 39%

9, 6, 36, 3, 3, 3, 5, 55
Activities
Driving 39, 2, 32, 1, 24, 24, 5, 8, 386 67%

90, 57, 42, 2, 60
Visual 2, 6, 27, 1, 11, 2, 1, 5, 5, 5, 128 22%

4, 7, 3, 7, 4, 9, 3, 2, 8, 2, 5,
3, 2, 2, 2,
Incorrect interaction 12, 4, 2, 7, 2, 3, 2, 2, 1, 3, 43 7%

2, 1, 2
Correct interaction 4, 2, 10, 2, 1, 2, 2 23 4%
and after the drive respectively) including the activities and emotions as
presented in Tables 13, 14 and 15 in a graphical format.
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Figure 29. Participant 15: a positive overall experience showing proportions of emotions and
During the retrospective interview participant 15 refers to the experience as being
a challenge:
“Good that it’s over… Nervous excitement about it at the start… was a
challenge (referring to the interactions in high-traffic context)”
She acknowledged the positive emotions associated with overcoming the
challenging experience within the high-traffic context. This indicates a negative
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Findings
emotional state prior to driving in combination with overcoming challenging
interactions in high traffic context resulted in a positive overall emotional
experience. This pattern was consistent for participants that experienced a
positive overall experience including participant 9, 13 and 15.
In summary, participants experienced either a neutral, negative or positive overall
emotional experience. The overall experience was determined by two factors: the
emotional state of the participant before driving, and the context in which
emotions were elicited.
Table 16. Summary of neutral, negative and positive emotional experiences
Emotional State Before Activities in High Traffic Overall Emotional

Driving Context Experience
Positive Overall Neutral

No significant challenges
+ during interactions =
Positive Overall Negative

Challenges during
+ interactions =
Negative Overall Positive

Challenges during
+ interactions =
A summary of emotional experiences is shown in Table 16. The table illustrates
that a positive emotional state before driving in combination with no significant
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challenges during interaction in high-traffic contexts resulted in neutral overall
experiences. Six participants expressed neutral overall emotional experiences. A
positive emotional state before driving in combination with challenges during
interaction in high-traffic contexts resulted in a negative overall experience. Six
participants expressed a negative overall emotional experience. A negative
emotional state before driving in combination with challenges during interaction in
high traffic contexts resulted in a positive overall experience. Three participants
expressed a positive overall emotional experience.
8.3 Emotions While Driving: Effect of Extended Visual Interactions on
the Emotions of Driver
This section discusses the impact extended visual interactions in high-traffic
context had on the emotions of the driver while driving. This relates to the micro-
level aspects of the driving experience (Figure 3, left p.59). As was observed,
negative emotions experienced in high-traffic contexts are remembered even
after the drive has been completed thus they are implicated in overall emotional
experiences. Also, it is pertinent to identify how different types of interactions
influence the emotions of drivers while driving as this may have implications for
cognitive aspects of driving including attention, perception, performance, and
memory (Section 3.4) and ultimately affect driver safety. When the micro-level
interactions were explored, the findings indicated that extended visual interaction
with the interface often elicited negative emotions as well as higher concentration
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Findings
levels. This section illustrates three examples indicating instances where
extended visual interaction with the interface in high-traffic context led to negative
and concentrated emotions. The process involved examining the time-event plot
files and identifying the relationships between visual interactions and the
succeeding emotions elicited within high-traffic contexts.
Characteristic Examples
Figure 30 is the first example depicting visual interaction in high-traffic context
leading to negative emotions and higher concentration levels on behalf of the
driver. The light blue bar on the tasks/activity timeline represents visual
interaction with the interface. The green bar on the emotions timeline represents
negative emotions while the red portion represents concentration.
Figure 30. Participant 2: time-event plot and associated still images from video showing visual
interactions (light blue) eliciting negative emotions (green) in high traffic context
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Seven seconds of visual interaction with the interface led to approximately six
seconds of negative emotions followed by ten seconds of elevated concentration
levels expressed by participant 2.
A second example is presented (Figure 31). This time four seconds of visual
interaction led to higher levels of concentration while a further five seconds of
visual interaction eventually led to eighteen seconds of negative emotions.
Figure 31. Participant 4: time-event plot and associated still images from video showing extended
visual interactions (light blue) eventually eliciting negative emotions (green) in high traffic context
The same pattern is observed in a third example (Figure 32). This time two
seconds of visual interaction with the interface led to seven seconds of elevated
levels of concentration while a following four seconds of visual interaction
eventually led to fourteen seconds of negative emotions.
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Findings
Figure 32. Participant 8: time-event plot and associated still images from video showing extended
visual interactions (light blue) eliciting negative emotions (green) in high traffic context
Table 17. Extended visual interaction in high-traffic contexts generates negative emotions
Activity Context Emotions
Negative emotions
Visual interaction + High traffic context =
Table 17 illustrates how extended visual interaction within high-traffic contexts
generates negative emotions while driving. Many of the participants exhibited the
same pattern. This indicates that extended visual interaction will affect the
emotional condition of the driver in a negative fashion.
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8.4 Summary
This section has presented the main findings from the experiment conducted.
The findings from the experiment supported the model of the driving activity
presented in section 5.3. It was identified that the driving experience comprises a
micro and macro interaction level (Figure 3 p.59). Within the macro-level, the
emotions elicited during interactions in high-traffic context combined with the
emotional condition of the driver prior to driving significantly affect the overall
emotional experience. Within the micro-level it was found that extended visual
interaction with the interface led to negative emotions and concentration. The full
time-event plot files for the participants used as examples in this chapter (1, 2, 4,
8, 12, and 15) are provided in Appendix D. The next section reviews the findings
in relation to design and discusses their implications to the design of future
automobile interiors.
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Discussion and Implications
Chapter Nine
DISCUSSION AND
IMPLICATIONS
131
132
9.0 Discussion and Implications
9.1 Introduction
This section examines the results in relation to design. The focus is on the
findings relating to the overall emotional experience followed by the results in
relation to the implication of extended visual interactions on emotions. The use of
current and future technologies into vehicle interface designs to support and
enhance the overall emotional experience of driving is also considered.
9.2 Examining the Findings
Table 16 (p.125) summarises the different findings in respect to the overall
emotional experience of driving observed within the study. Cheng (2004) offers a
theory to explain the findings by noting “…our total affective experience is larger
than the sum of positive, negative and neutral moments” (Cheng, 2004 p.907)
and adds “A positive experience which has little or no effect ordinarily would go a
long way at hard times. On the contrary, when life is smooth, the effect of adding
more positive experiences may just be marginal” (Cheng, 2004 p.907). Cheng
proposes that people’s perception of their overall emotional experience is not
simply about the sum of their individual experiences, but rather has to take into
account the contrasting effects between individual experiences. This suggests
that the difference between positive and negative emotions have a contrasting
133
effect on the overall emotional condition of an individual. For instance, if a
negative experience is followed by a positive experience, the difference between
the contrasting emotions creates a noticeably positive overall experience. If a
positive experience is followed by a negative experience the difference between
the contrasting emotions creates a noticeably negative overall experience. This
theory also suggests that if a positive experience is followed by another positive
experience the difference between the similar emotions creates only a marginal
positive overall experience.
The last point helps to explain why participants in a positive state before driving
that experienced no significant challenges with the interface in high-traffic
contexts underwent neutral overall experiences instead of overall positive
experiences. The reason being that the positive emotions prior to driving followed
by the positive emotions of completing tasks without difficulty produced minimal
emotional change between the two events and thus the driver perceived the
overall emotional experience as neutral. The same idea also helps to understand
why participants in a negative emotional state prior to driving experienced overall
positive experiences when overcoming challenges during interaction in high-
traffic contexts. The reason being that the positive emotions associated with
overcoming the challenges were in stark contrast to the participant’s negative
emotions prior to driving. The same applies to participants in positive emotional
state prior to driving who experienced challenges in high-traffic contexts. The
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contrasting emotions between the two events resulted in an overall negative
emotional experience.
The second finding in regards to the effect of extended visual interaction on the
emotions of the driver is also relevant. Recognising that extended visual
interaction in high-traffic contexts leads to negative emotions is important for the
overall emotional experience. The findings indicate that negative emotions within
high-traffic contexts are magnified and remembered by the driver even after the
drive has finished. As such, it is important to eliminate the need to interact with
the interface visually for extended periods of time in high-traffic contexts as this
may lead to negative emotions and consequently affect the overall emotions
experience in a negative manner.
9.3 Implications for Automotive Design
How do these findings affect the future design of automobile interfaces? The
findings suggests that if designers are to consider overall emotional experiences
of driving it is not so much the emotions elicited during interaction between
human and artefact that is important, but rather it is about the context in which
these emotions occur. Also, the emotional state before driving will impact on the
perception of the emotions elicited during interactions in high-traffic context, thus
affecting the overall emotional experience.
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Several conclusions can be deducted in regards to the overall emotional
experience:
• Emotions elicited by interactions in low and medium-traffic contexts do not
influence the overall emotional experience perceived by the driver.
• Emotions elicited by interactions in high-traffic contexts have a significant
impact on the overall emotional experience.
• When a driver is in a positive emotional condition before driving, any
negative emotions associated with interactions in high-traffic contexts will
be magnified and remembered even after the drive has being completed.
• When a driver is in a negative emotional condition before driving, positive
feelings associated with overcoming interaction challenges in high-traffic
contexts are remembered and assist in generating overall positive
emotional experiences.
• Extended visual interactions with the vehicle interface in high-traffic
contexts will elicit negative emotions while driving.
These points suggest that to support emotional experiences, automobile
interfaces should be able to perform in one mode within low and medium-traffic
contexts and in another mode in high-traffic contexts. The mode in this case
would be determined by the emotional state of the driver prior to driving so
vehicle interiors should be sensitive to the driver’s emotional state.
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Within low and medium-traffic contexts:
• Vehicle interfaces may encourage interactions, as the emotions elicited
during interactions in these contexts will not critically affect the overall
experience perceived by the driver.
• The interface could introduce the element of enjoyment or delight by
presenting a variety of interfaces rather than a static interface.
Within high-traffic contexts:
• Avoid interfaces that require extended visual interaction from the driver
while driving in high-traffic contexts as this may elicit negative emotions.
• If the driver is in a positive emotional state before driving, the interface
may discourage incorrect interaction, as any negative emotions associated
with challenging interactions will generate negative overall emotional
experiences.
• If driver is in a negative emotional state before driving, the interface could
encourage interactions, as the positive emotions associated with
overcoming challenging interactions lead to overall positive emotional
experiences.
By “challenging” it is not suggested that interfaces become more difficult to use in
high-traffic contexts, instead it is suggested that consideration be paid to
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interfaces that are not only effortless and efficient during use but also surprising,
challenging and stimulating as this may lead to overall positive emotional
experiences. Table 18 presents a summary of the findings from the experiment
and the implications for design.
Table 18. Summary of findings and implications for design
Findings Implications for design
Emotions during interaction in low and • Interface to encourage interaction

medium traffic =
• Interface to be flexible, adaptive
no influence on overall experience
Emotions during interaction in high traffic • Adaptable, flexible interface according to

context = emotional state of driver prior to driving
Influence on overall emotional • Interior sensitive to emotional state of driver

experiences
Positive mood before driving + no

challenging interactions in high traffic =
Neutral overall experience • Interface that adapts and discourages

incorrect interactions
Positive mood before driving + challenging • Simplified interface

interactions in high traffic =
Negative overall experience
Negative mood before driving + challenging

interactions in high traffic = • Interface that adapts and encourages
interactions
Positive overall experience
Extended visual interaction with interface in

high traffic = • Interface that discourages extended visual
interaction
Negative emotions
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How can automobile interfaces support these different types of interactions
across varying contexts? This requires the input of current and future
technologies and design. This particular issue is discussed in section 9.4.
9.4 Application of Current and Future Technologies
One of the main implications of the findings for the design of automobile interiors
is the idea that interfaces should be context-aware and adapt accordingly to its
surrounding environment. Context-aware type systems are said to help maximise
system performance (Sato, 2003) as well as the possibility of improving
satisfaction and pleasure of use (Friend & Thorpe, 2003). From the findings of
the experiment conducted, it is argued that context-awareness and adaptability of
products in varying contexts can also be used to help support and engage users
in positive emotional experiences.
Ubiquitous, embedded, and ambient technologies could be applied within interior
vehicle designs to make interfaces aware of their surrounding context as well as
create interiors that are sensitive to the emotional condition of drivers. Digital
screens, smart materials and sensory fabrics could be used as adaptable
interfaces between the driver and vehicle. Haptic and tactile interfaces could also
be utilised to reduce the visual demand on users while driving. Although an
adaptable interface is a key aspect for supporting emotional experiences, the
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adaptation needs to be specific and dependant on the surrounding context and
situation. This is the reason why context-aware technologies need to be applied
in order to determine how these types of technologies should adapt in varying
contexts.
Context-Aware Technologies
Context aware suggests that the interface recognises the surrounding context in
which it is in as well as the context it has just left. There is a lot of research into
context-aware computing to support the development of adaptable interfaces in a
variety of contexts (Dey et al., 2001; Dourish, 2001a; Kim et al., 2004; Leong,
Kobayashi, Koshisuka, & Sakamura, 2005; Teller, 2004).
Context aware computing would require ubiquitous, embedded or ambient
technologies to be applied to the vehicle interior so as to acquire relevant
knowledge about the surrounding situation and environment. These types of
technologies are composed of distributed miniature computing input devices that
gather information (temperature, noise levels, visual information and so on) about
the environment. It is proposed that these context aware-technologies can inform
the vehicle interface about the current context so that it may be able to adapt
accordingly. Currently there appears to be no production vehicle that utilises
context aware computing as described above, however there are context-aware
systems that are being trialled within the area of automotive telematics (Vidales &
Stajano, 2002).
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Emotionally Sensitive Technologies
Technology exists that could be applied to vehicle interiors to sense the
emotional state of the driver (Nasoz et al., 2002; Teller, 2004). ‘Sensitive’ in this
case, does not imply that the interface can identify a specific emotion;
nevertheless, identifying whether a driver is in a negative emotional state or a
positive emotional state is possible. The methods used to detect positive or
negative emotional states vary. For instance, some researchers are developing
wearable devices that detect emotional states via physiological responses
(Healey & Picard, 2000; Nasoz et al., 2002). Another method utilises speech
recognition techniques to detect emotions while driving (Fernandez & Picard,
2003).
Digital Touch Screens
The application of digital screens is currently possible and easily accessible for
application into vehicle interface design. In this way, interfaces could possibly
adapt to different surrounding context or user inputs. Navigation systems are a
simple example of digital screen technology that responds to its changing
surrounding.
Digital touch screens could be applied to design the entire centre console
(including radio and CD, air-condition, navigation), speedometer, fuel gauge and
so on in a way that the entire interface could change and adapt depending on the
141
surrounding context. There is literature suggesting this type of technology is
already being considered by major car manufacturers to enhance safety and
enjoyment for the driver (Walker, Stanton, & Young, 2001). Essentially the benefit
of these types of technologies is that they would allow for customisation by the
driver or other passengers in the vehicle, as well as allow the vehicle itself to
utilise context-aware technologies to adapt to the surrounding context
automatically.
Smart Materials
Smart materials are another type of technology that could be utilised within
vehicle interiors. The term ‘smart’ refers to materials such as thermochromic
materials, shape memory alloys and polymers and electro-rheological fluids
(Friend & Thorpe, 1999) that can change and adapt dynamically to its
environment. Smart materials offer versatility depending on the surrounding
environment, as well as adaptability to the driver’s requirements. For example,
there are polymers that are able to change dynamically to respond to different
stimuli, changing from a high level of stiffness to a low level of stiffness
depending on the circumstances. Also, there is ongoing experimentation on
conformable elastic materials that can change shape, adapting to the users grip
or force applied (Friend & Thorpe, 2003). This could be utilised on steering
wheels, buttons or other areas on the driver-vehicle interface to enhance usability
and comfort.
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Sensory Fabrics
Sensory fabrics use electrically conductive textiles to create switches and
sensors in fabrics and other materials (Swallow & Thompson, 2001). Essentially
this technology acts as a physical input device requiring pressure to activate the
switch or sensor in the fabric. Although sensory fabrics have been used for
personal devices, as educational tools and for the PC, there is an opportunity to
use these types of fabrics within automotive interiors.
Haptic and Tactile Interfaces
Haptic and tactile interfaces are primarily said to be used to increase driver safety
(Burnett & Porter, 2001). However it is argued that the appropriate application of
these types of interfaces may be implicated in reducing the chance of eliciting
negative emotions while driving. As the findings have shown, extended visual
interaction with the interface in high-traffic contexts will elicit negative emotions;
therefore, interfaces that demand less time observing may reduce these types of
negative emotions being elicited.
9.5 Summary
This chapter summarised and discussed the findings in relation to design and
how they are implicated in automotive interface design. The findings suggest that
interfaces need to be context-aware and adaptable across a variety of
surrounding environments. To support overall positive emotional experiences
143
(and assist in reducing negative experiences) the interface needs to adapt in
different ways, for instance:
In low and medium-traffic context:
• Vehicle interfaces may encourage interactions
• The interface could introduce the element of fun by presenting a variety of
interfaces.
In high-traffic contexts:
• Avoid interfaces that require extended visual interaction from the driver
while driving.
• If the driver is in a positive emotional state before driving, the interface
may discourage interaction.
• If driver is in a negative emotional state before driving, the interface could
encourage physical interactions.
It is proposed that context-aware and adaptable technologies be applied to future
automotive interface designs to support and enhance overall emotional
experiences in varying contexts. To achieve this, the technologies should be
applied in ways that correlate with the findings of the research. Also, it is
144
anticipated that these be implemented in a way that does not take the control
away from the driver while driving.
145
146
Conclusion and Future Directions
Chapter Ten
CONCLUSION AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
147
148
10.0 Conclusion and Future Directions
The aim of this research was to explore experience design in respect to
automotive design. The objective was to investigate the emotional experience
between human user and product in context. Specifically, the focus was on the
emotional experience of the driving activity and therefore relates to automotive
design.
The research question driving the study was: “How can experience design
influence the driving activity?” Experience design involves exploring the
emotional aspects of interactions in context, its central concern being emotions
and interactions in context. In response to the research question, emotions and
context were examined to understand how they are implicated in the driving
activity. A model of the driving activity was developed using activity theory as its
foundation. The model encapsulates the concept of experience design relevant to
product use by capturing the human-product-environment relationship during
interactions. The model was later used to describe the driving experience.
An experiment was conducted exploring the overall emotional experience of the
driving activity. The goal was to determine the main factors influencing emotions
during interaction with the vehicle interface in a real driving situation. To do this, a
data triangulation approach was utilised involving interviews, think-aloud
protocols and observations. Findings in relation to aspects that enhance or
149
detract from the emotional experience of driving were attained. It was discovered
that it is not so much the type of emotions elicited during interactions but the
context in which they are experienced that influences the overall emotional
experience. The emotional state before driving is implicated in determining the
overall emotional experience perceived. A positive emotional state before driving
combined with no significant interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts
generates a neutral overall experience. A positive emotional state before driving
combined with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generates a negative
overall experience. A negative emotional state before driving combined with
challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts generates a positive emotional
experience. It seems that positive emotions associated with overcoming
challenges with the interface in high-traffic contexts reflects positively on the
overall experience. It seemed that emotions elicited during interactions in low and
medium-traffic contexts did not affect the overall emotional experience of driving.
Another finding suggests that extended visual interaction in high-traffic context
impacts negatively on emotions, but not necessarily on the overall experience.
The findings respond to the research question by indicating that to support and
enhance emotional experiences in the driving activity vehicle interfaces need to
adapt and adjust appropriately to their surrounding environment. In low and
medium-traffic contexts interfaces may encourage interactions. In high-traffic
contexts, if the driver is in a positive emotional prior to driving the interface may
discourage challenging interactions. If the drive is in a negative emotional state
150
before driving the interface may encourage challenging interactions. The element
of safety is always a priority and introducing challenges does not imply increasing
the risk of driving, instead the intent is to appropriately design and implement
interesting and challenging vehicle interfaces. To achieve this, the application of
current and future technologies could be used in future automotive interiors. This
includes context-aware computing to asses the surrounding environment and
adaptable interfaces such as digital touch screens, smart materials, haptic
interfaces and sensory fabrics to be used throughout the vehicle interiors. The
intent is for these types of technologies to be applied in ways that correlate with
the findings so as to enhance the emotional experience of the driving activity.
This study has opened up other avenues for research in the area of experience
design and automotive design. Future directions in this area include focusing on
different contexts, situations and environments including suburban traffic
environments, outer-city driving environments, and coastal driving environments.
Nigh-time driving offers further avenues for research. The implication of different
emotional experiences to the safety aspects of driving is also proposed as a
future research possibility. These different driving situations may provide
additional knowledge on aspects that affects the emotional experience of driving
and may impact on the design of future automotive interiors.
In summary, experience design offers a novel perspective for exploring and
investigating the driving activity as it focuses on the issues of emotions and
151
interactions in context. The findings provide new knowledge to designers in order
to enable them to design automotive interfaces that aim to support and enhance
the driving activity. Through experiments and its related findings this study
proposes the application of current and upcoming technologies and design for
future automotive interiors that aim to enhance positive emotional experiences
within the driving activity.
152
Appendix A
Appendix A
INFORMATION PACKAGE AND EXPERIMENT
CONSENT FORM
163
164
Appendix A
Rafael Gomez
Masters of Applied Science
Queensland University of Technology
2 George St. Brisbane, 4001.
School of Design and Built Environment
Ph: 3864 9184
Description
I am currently doing a Masters of Applied Science at the Queensland University
of Technology. As part of the study I am conducting a pilot study. Its purpose is to
investigate the driving experience of individuals.
The test consists of an initial interview, an observation study and a retrospective

interview. The initial interview will involve face to face conversation where some
primary information will be gained from you. You will then be asked to drive from
one location to another (in a specific route) in which time you will be video and
audio recorded. During the drive you will be asked to perform some tasks and
talk about the experience while you perform the tasks. Directly following the drive
will be a face to face interview where some questions about the overall driving
experience will be asked. The time involved for the entire test will be
approximately one hour.
The expected outcome is that you will have a good or bad experience depending
on the ease of the tasks and the context of the drive. The results will help further
my study, which is aimed towards enhancing the driving experience. The results
will be published in my thesis and any other published research papers,
Furthermore some or all of the results may be presented at various conferences
and presentations.
Recruitment process
You have been identified as a possible candidate for this test through the
university email list. Currently neither the principal researcher nor the research
team has any personal information about you other than that you are an
employee of the university.
165
Once I have received a reply from you I will be conducting a simple screening of
the potential candidates. The screening is essentially designed to gather
candidates who are able to perform the test in a safe and beneficial manner.
Because the testing involves driving a vehicle, for legal reasons it is required that
you are over 18 years of age and have a current valid Australian driver’s license.
Furthermore, for safety purposes it is necessary that you are not on any kind of
medication or drugs that may affect your driving performance.
For the purposes of this test, it is also necessary that you have not driven the
Toyota corolla (2000 model) to a great extent. This is so that the data gathered
from the study is consistent among the various participants.
Expected Benefits
Your involvement in this project will not carry any direct benefits.
Risks
As you are required to perform certain tasks while driving and asked to talk about
your experience while you perform the tasks, this may expose you to some risks
due to lapse of concentration on the road. Also, because you are being video and
audio taped during the drive, this may cause some discomfort while driving.
However, the risks involved are not significantly greater than ordinary driving.
The test has been designed to minimize and reduce any additional risks that may
be encountered thus you will not be facing more risks than during an ordinary
driving situation.
The tasks you will be asked to perform will not involve any illegal activities or
anything that will expose you to harm or injury. The tasks are everyday actions
such as:
• Turning on the radio

• Tuning to a radio station
• Playing a CD
• Turning on the air-conditioning
• Cleaning the windscreen with the wipers and water spray.
You can perform the tasks at any time you consider safe, so there will be no
added pressure to perform them at a specific time (as long as you can complete
them during the drive). Furthermore, the fact that you are asked to talk about
your experience while performing the tasks will not expose you to any more risks
than ordinary conversation with other passengers while driving.
The cameras and audio devices will be as unobtrusive as possible and will not
interfere with your visibility. They will be in a fixed position and you will be
informed where they are located before you begin driving.
166
Appendix A
Furthermore I will be in the vehicle while the test is being performed for
assurance if anything out of the ordinary occurs during the drive.
Confidentiality
Only the research team will have access to the information you provide. Your
anonymity and confidentiality will be safeguarded in any publication of the results
of this research, through the use of pseudonyms.
Although you will be videotaped and others may view this video, your details
including your name will not appear on any of the footage. Only the research
team will be able to connect you with your personal information.
Voluntary participation
Your decision whether to participate in this project is voluntary and you can withdraw
at any time without comment or penalty.
Questions/further information
If you have any questions regarding the project please contact me (on the above details) at any time or the
Research Ethics Officer (07) 3864 2340 or ethicscontact@qut.edu.au
Concerns/complaints
If you have any concerns/complaints they should be directed to the Research
Ethics Officer (07) 3864 2340 or ethicscontact@qut.edu.au
Feedback
You will be contacted via email when the main body of the project is completed.
AV Recording
The video and audio data collected will be stored in a secure place which will
only be accessed by the research team. The recordings will not be destroyed
after use, instead it will be stored in a secure place as backups. Participation in
this project is not possible without being video taped.
167
CONSENT FORM
Rafael Gomez
Masters of Applied Science
Queensland University of Technology
2 George St. Brisbane, 4001.
School of Design and Built Environment
Ph: 3864 9184
Mob: 0408002774
By signing below, you are indicating that you:

• have read and understood the information sheet about this project;
• have had any questions answered to your satisfaction;
• understand that if you have any additional questions you can contact the research team;
• understand that you are free to withdraw at any time, without comment or penalty;
• understand that you will be video and audio taped and that the data will be kept in a safe
and secure place where only the research team can access it;
• understand that if you have any concerns/complaints they should be directed to the
Research Ethics Officer (07) 3864 2340 or ethicscontact@qut.edu.au: and,
• agree to participate in the project.
Further, by signing below, you are stating that you will not take any alcohol or
drugs* likely to affect your driving performance within 24 hours of the study, and
that you will not in any way be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
*some examples include antihistamines, tranquillisers, pain killers.
Name
Signature
Date / /
168
Appendix B
Appendix B
INITIAL INTERVIEW
169
170
Appendix B
Initial Interview
1. Name:
2. Age bracket:
17-25 25-35 35-45 45-55 Over 55
3. How long have you been driving?
4. Do you like to drive?
5. What is it about driving that you enjoy?
Please tick in the box what you consider to be the most appropriate for each question
6. How are you currently feeling?
171
7. Normally, how do you feel when you drive a car?
8. How do you feel when you cannot work the different functions in the vehicle (in
general)?
172
Appendix C
Appendix C
RETROSPECTIVE INTERVIEW
173
174
Appendix C
Retrospective Interview
1. (a) How do you feel about the overall drive?
(b) Why was it a good/bad/neutral experience?
2. (a) Were there any problems with the operation of the stereo?
(Probe) if not
• Why not?
If so
• What were they and why?
175
(b) Taking this into account (their answer), rate how you felt about operating the
stereo
3. (a) Were there any problems with operating the air-conditioning?
(Probe) if not
• Why not?
If so
(b) Taking this into account (their answer) ,rate how you felt about operating the air-
conditioning
176
Appendix C
4. (a) Were there any problems with cleaning the windows?
(Probe) if not
• Why not?
If so
(b) Taking this into account (their answer), rate how you felt about cleaning the
windows?
• Thank you very much for your participation, it has been greatly appreciated.
177
178

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Rafael Gomez Thesis

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Experience Design and

Experience design, automotive design, vehicle interface design, emotions,

emotions and interaction, interaction and overall emotional experience, overall

emotional experience and driving, observational analysis, interior vehicle

design, future technologies and vehicle interface design.

to investigate the emotional experience of the driving activity. The research

driving activity?” Experience design proposes to explore emotional aspects of

interactions in context. A model of the human-product-environment

relationship, using activity theory as its foundation, is presented. The model is

used to situate the overall experience of driving.

An experiment exploring the overall emotional experience in real driving

situations was conducted. Participants were required to drive around a

data triangulation approach was employed involving interviews, think-aloud

protocols and observations.

before driving impacts the overall emotional experience. Positive emotional

states before driving with no interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts

generated neutral overall experiences. However, positive emotional states

before driving with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated

negative overall experiences. Negative emotional states before driving

combined with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated

with overcoming challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts reflect

positively on the overall experience. Emotions elicited in low and medium-

that extended visual interaction with interface in high-traffic context generates

It is proposed that vehicle interfaces should adapt appropriately to their

surrounding context to support positive (and avoid negative) emotional

experiences. In low and medium-traffic contexts interfaces may encourage

interactions. In high-traffic contexts, if the driver is in a positive emotional state

before driving interfaces may discourage challenging interactions. If the driver

is in a negative emotional state before driving the interface may encourage

In conclusion, this study proposes the application of current and upcoming

technologies for future automotive interiors to enhance positive (and reduce

negative) emotional experiences within the driving activity.

8.1 Introduction 109

9.1 Introduction 133

Appendix A Information Package and Experiment Consent Form 165

Firstly I would like to thank my principle supervisor, Professor Vesna Popovic,

and support throughout my research. Their dedication, commitment and

invaluable comments have been greatly appreciated. Thank you also to my

fellow research colleagues at QUT for their helpful discussions and

reassurance and support, and who continuously inspires me.

(Moore, 2002 p.40).

Creating innovative designs no longer involves eliminating deficiencies in

and practice is based on exploring the overall emotional experience between

p.880). Traditionally designers have had available to them an excess amount of

commonly aimed at trying to respond to faults and deficiencies in artefacts

to be on avoiding trouble rather than positively enhancing the human

physiological experience” (Fulton, 1993 p.8). Positively enhancing the

psychological as well as the physiological experience is part of creating positive

overall emotional experiences.

Within the field of design an approach concentrating on the overall emotional

experience of interactions has emerged. This approach has been labelled as

experience design. Experience design centres on the overall emotional

experience of interaction between user, product and environment. The focal

experience of interactions. Focusing on emotions and context is not completely

as well as how context influences experience. Nevertheless, until recently, they

out “…experience broadens the discussion of function. It moves us from a focus

on the product’s mechanical operation to the way it fits in to a user’s activities”

(Margolin, 1997 p.229). By focusing attention on the overall experience, activities

performed between humans and products may be better understood,

consequently providing designers with relevant knowledge to design products

experiences during interaction. In this way, designs that support emotional

aspects of interactions may be perceived as easier to use, more engaging and

more appealing to the user (Tractinsky, Katz, & Ikar, 2000).