The concept of “presence” as a measure of ecological validity in driving simulators

Abstract

This pilot study aims to find a way to measure 'presence' as a proxy for ecological validity in driving simulators. The underlying assumption is that a person experiencing a strong sense of presence in the virtual environment will react as if it were real. We measure 'presence' through the 'attention' given to the driving task. We hypothesize that the greater the attention given to the primary driving task, the more the subject will experience spatial presence. 'Attention' was varied by adding a second task and oncoming traffic; we then analyzed behavioral measures of driving performance and subjective 'presence'. The main result is a lack of congruence between subjective and behavioral measures. Although behavioral differences were observed between the various experimental conditions, there was no significant difference in subjective measures of presence. One explanation for this result could be that in all experimental conditions the driving activity did not require high-level cognitive processes, and was instead based on bottom-up attentional processes. Many of the processes involved in driving seem to be automatic, and this study argues for the concomitant use of subjective measures (such as questionnaires) and objective measures to assess presence in driving simulators. Furthermore, the development of a sensitive measure of presence seems to require more challenging scenarios in terms of controlled attention, cognitive involvement and more specifically, the emotions induced by the media. Participants are clearly aware that they are not exposed to any physical danger when using the simulator and the problem of their motivation must be taken into consideration. Another major problem is to establish the extent to which they are absorbed in the simulated driving task. A significant challenge for future research is the emotional validity of driving.