Institut de leadership, École de kinésiologie et de récréologie, Université de Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada E1A 3E9.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2011 Sep;81(3):203-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.06.012. Epub 2011 Jul 2.
Driving simulators have become an increasingly popular tool to study and assess drivers. Physiological measurements not only provide an important index of an individual's presence in the virtual environment, but they also permit us to compare simulated and on-road experiences. However, at this point, few studies examining the ecological validity of simulated driving have included physiological variables. In a first study, we embedded three surprising events into a typical simulated road circuit. The first event consisted of a car pulling out suddenly from the shoulder of the road, while the remaining two events consisted of a green traffic light changing to amber as the driver approached the intersection. We noted statistically significant elevations in the mean heart rate (MHR) response to virtual events of about 4beats per minute (bpm) during the 15s immediately following the events. In a second study, we directly compared heart rate, oxygen consumption (VO(2)), and mean ventilation (MV(E)) responses to similar simulated and on-road drives. The change in physiological variables from baseline to driving was similar between simulated and on-road conditions, and a very strong correlation between simulated and on-road driving values for MV(E) (r=0.90) was observed. MHR and maximum heart rate (HR(max)) were nonetheless significantly higher during on-road drives. These studies suggest that the level of immersion of a fixed base simulator is great enough to elicit presence, and achieve both relative and absolute validity for certain physiological parameters. Nonetheless, the absolute responses between virtual and real world experiences remain different. For both research and evaluation purposes, it is critical that we better understand the impact of the driver's perceived level of risk or difficulty during simulation on their driving behaviour and physiological responses.
驾驶模拟器已成为研究和评估驾驶员的一种越来越流行的工具。生理测量不仅提供了个体在虚拟环境中存在的重要指标，还使我们能够比较模拟和道路体验。然而，到目前为止，很少有研究将生理变量纳入模拟驾驶的生态有效性研究中。在第一项研究中，我们在典型的模拟道路电路中嵌入了三个意外事件。第一个事件是一辆车突然从路边驶出，而其余两个事件是当司机接近十字路口时，绿色交通信号灯变为琥珀色。我们注意到，在事件发生后 15 秒内，虚拟事件的平均心率（MHR）反应显著升高约 4 次/分钟（bpm）。在第二项研究中，我们直接比较了类似模拟和道路驾驶的心率、耗氧量（VO（2））和平均通气量（MV（E））的反应。生理变量从基线到驾驶的变化在模拟和道路条件之间相似，并且观察到 MV（E）的模拟和道路驾驶值之间非常强的相关性（r=0.90）。然而，在道路行驶时，MHR 和最大心率（HR（max））仍然显著升高。这些研究表明，固定基地模拟器的沉浸水平足以引起存在，并为某些生理参数实现相对和绝对有效性。尽管如此，虚拟和真实世界体验之间的绝对反应仍然不同。对于研究和评估目的，了解驾驶员在模拟过程中感知到的风险或难度水平对其驾驶行为和生理反应的影响至关重要。
