Citizen Perception of Future Street Scenarios

Our independent variable is an information treatment: Group *information* will watch videos from a birdseye perspective for every scenario (basic/flexible/laneless). Subsequently, the participant has to cross the street. Group *efficacy* first watches the videos in the same order as group information. Additionally, they will watch the same videos on a split-screen to compare the differences (in efficacy) across scenarios and situations. Hence, they additionally get qualitative information about the efficacy of a traffic scenario.

2022-09-05

2022-09-09

The experiment tests whether the user’s information about the scenario influences stress, perceived safety, willingness to cross and share the street, and physiological parameters.

Stress, perceived safety, and willingness to cross and share the street are self-reported. Stress is measured via the Short Stress State Questionnaire. Physiological parameters are measured via the Garmin HRM-Pro breast strap, and the Empatica embrace two wristband:
1. Heart rate sensor: To measure the heart rate and the heart rate variation (HRV). HRV characteristics describe stress, ease, engagement, and any imbalance within the autonomous nervous system.
2. Electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor: To understand the changes in skin electrical conductance in response to sweat secretion. It has been found that EDA has a strong association with emotional arousal
3. Inertial sensors: Combination of sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to identify the body position, acceleration, and orientation. The data could provide valuable insights into different stimuli that affect body movements.

After entering the lab, participants take a seat at a computer. The session has five steps:
1. Before each experimental session, participants will be given an information sheet and asked to complete an informed
consent form.
2. Next, participants complete the pre-test questions from the SSSQ.
3. Participants watch videos (22”) through VR glasses, depending on their treatment group.
4. Next, participants stand up and get verbal instructions on how to
wear the VR glasses (see appendix). Then they try the
functionality of the headset and the controllers in an abstract VR environment. Steps 4 and 5 are supervised 1:1 by the experimenter.
5. Then they repeat the following steps three times in three different traffic sessions:
a. First, they watch (through an oculus quest 2) a traffic scenario in which they are asked to cross the street. Participants will have small breaks between replays.
b. They return to the computer and answer the post-test questions from SSSQ, perceived level of safety, willingness to cross and the walkable street survey.
6. Finally, participants complete socio-demographic and open-ended questions. Participants will read a debriefing on the exact data that has been collected. More precisely, they will be informed that we evaluate heart rate variability, skin conductance, stride length, walking cadence, vertical ratio, ground contact time, and respiration rate to quantify the difference in reaction to the different scenarios.

Participants are handled 1:1; therefore, treatment condition alternate, e.g. the first participant is in treatment *information*, the second in *efficacy*, and the third in *information*.

Randomization takes part on the participant level.

No

Twenty participants in each treatment group.

40 participants.

40 participants.