Yoon-Ki Min

Effects of three levels of arousal on 3-back working memory task performance

This study investigated how three levels of arousal affected performance of a 3-back working memory task. Ten female and ten male university students participated in this experiment. With pictures selected from a group test, three levels of arousal were induced––i.e., tense, neutral, and relaxed emotions. Each subject was run through the procedure three times, once for each arousal level. The procedure consisted of six phases for each arousal condition: (1) Rest 1 (2 min), (2) Picture 1 (presenting emotion arousing photos for 2 min), (3) 3-back working memory task 1 (2 min), (4) Picture 2 (presenting emotion-arousing photos for 2 min), (5) 3-back working memory task 2 (2 min), and (6) Rest 2 (2 min). The skin conductance level of electrodermal activity was also measured during all phases of the experiment. The accuracy rate of 3-back working memory task performance was the highest at a neutral emotional state, followed by relaxed and then tense emotional states. There were no significant differences in reaction time.

Difference of driving performance according to turn types at the intersection and age

This study examined the difference of driving performance according to turn types (left /right turn), suggested by Bao and Boyle (2009), and age(old and young adults). To do that, the turn types at the intersection were divided into 12 scenarios of left and right turn, respectively and by making approach velocity at the intersection, the passing time at the intersection, the speed and steering variation while passing the intersection as the measures of driving performance were measured by using two age groups, young and old adults. As a result, young drivers approached and passed the intersection faster than older drivers. It suggests that old drivers have a low level of driving confidence, which can be interpreted as a result of a kind of compensatory behavior when considering their physical degradation. Also, compared with the right turn intersection, there was a big speed variation while turning at the left turn intersection. It is reflecting the driving behavior which appears because a driver recognizes that there is more information to be confirmed constantly for safety driving while turning left, compared with right turn. However, it suggests that a driver might have accidents while turning right at the intersection when the objects besides vehicles appear because of this driving behavior, as suggested by Summala, et al.(1996).

The differences of eye movement according to turn conditions in driving situation: Comparison of older and younger drivers

This research examined differences of eye movement in left or right turn conditions at each of intersection type between older and younger drivers. To examine these differences, we measured visual scanning time by eye-marker. The results showed that on the type T1 which has the front, the left, or the right roads, older drivers tend to keep eyes on the front for a short time than younger drivers in turning right. On the type T2 which has the left and the right roads, older drivers watched the left for a short time in turning left than younger drivers, while watching the right for a long time in turning right. On the type Cross which has the front, the left, and the right road, older drivers kept eye on the front for a short time in turning right than younger drivers. The results indicate that older drivers could perform more risky driving behavior in turning right at the intersection which has the front road than younger drivers. It also suggested that older drivers could perform more risky driving behavior in turning left at the intersection which has the left and right roads than older drivers, but they could perceive accurately the unexpected driving in right turning situation.

Development of the Real-Time Subjective Emotionality Assessment (RTSEA) system.

A new Real-Time Subjective Emotionality Assessment (RTSEA) system was developed for this study. The system is composed of two parts: an emotionality input and evaluation parts. An experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of the RTSEA system. The present study compared Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) with the RTSEA by presenting 28 subjects with pictures that aroused either positive or negative emotion. Following the experiment, a subjective assessment using a questionnaire was given to the same subjects. According to the correlation coefficients, changes of the RTSEA had strong correlations with the changes of the GSR. Also, the questionnaire results showed marked similarity to the average responses of the RTSEA. In conclusion, the most remarkable characteristic of the present system is that it not only assesses the average emotionality when stimuli are presented, but also shows the trend of change in emotionality over time.

The Physical Thermal Environment for a Learner-Centered Comfort Learning Environment in Summer: The Comparison of PMV- and CSV-Based Thermal Comfort Conditions

This research examined it would be appropriate how to control physical thermal environment elements in order to make up a comfort learning environment. To do this, we compared physical thermal environment elements based on the predicted mean vote (PMV) with those based on the comfort sensation vote (CSV). As a result, in the condition of not-using air conditioning systems, an air temperature, relative humidity, and mean radiant temperature were higher on the CSV-based thermal comfort condition than on the PMV-based thermal comfort condition. While in the condition of using air conditioning systems, an air temperature and relative humidity were higher, and a air velocity was lower on the CSV-based thermal comfort condition than on the PMV-based thermal comfort condition. It suggest that it should be needed the correction controlling of physical thermal environment elements rather than controlling the physical thermal environment elements based on the PMV to make up a learner-centered comfort learning environment.