Key result
Stress-inducing road objects linked to abrupt HR elevations and facial engagement changes in drivers.
Why the study?
Certain road objects may be associated with higher driver stress levels, but their relationship with abrupt heart rate increases has not been analyzed in naturalistic driving conditions.
Observational
Stress-inducing road objects and conditions are associated with abrupt increases in drivers' heart rate and changes in facial engagement.
May signal acute cardiovascular stress from road objects in drivers; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Recent studies have pointed out the importance of mitigating drivers' stress and negative emotions. These studies show that certain road objects such as big vehicles might be associated with higher stress levels based on drivers' subjective stress measures. Additionally, research shows strong correlations between drivers' stress levels and increased heart rate (HR). In this paper, based on a naturalistic multimodal driving dataset, we analyze the visual scenes of driving in the vicinity of abrupt increases in drivers' HR for the presence of certain stress-inducing road objects. We show that the probability of the presence of such objects increases when becoming closer to the abrupt increase in drivers' HR. Additionally, we show that drivers' facial engagement changes significantly in the vicinity of abrupt increases in HR. Our results lay the ground for a human-centered driving experience by detecting and mitigating drivers' stress levels in the wild.
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Tavakoli et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Drivers' stress and abrupt heart rate changes. Presence of stress-inducing road objects was evaluated on Abrupt increases in drivers' heart rate and facial engagement changes. The presence of stress-inducing road objects was associated with an increased probability of abrupt heart rate elevations and significant changes in facial engagement among drivers.
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