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PORPOSE
In this research, we examined the influence of the visual noises caused by the pedestrian walking through the lower floors on the task performance on the desktop beside of Atrium, by using the virtual environmental technology, eye movement tracking technology and the electrodermal activity measurement technology.
Through the analysis of experimental results, we aimed to propose an architectural standard for designing the various elements of the atriums such as the shape of the sidewalks and the space arrangements of the downstairs with the deep consideration of the visual behaviors and the physiological reaction of workers.
METHOD
The 3D movies of the pedestrian walking through the lower floors of atriums were constructed with Unity, the well-known gaming engine.
The movies were projected on the floor of the experimental room by the high-contrast-projector so that the subjects sitting at the desk could see as if the virtual pedestrians were walking through the lower floors.
The movies were largely divided into 2 categories. One was the movie on which the virtual pedestrians walked through the 2 level lower floors. Another was the movie the virtual pedestrians walked through the 3 level lower floors.
There were 8 types of the walking patterns of the virtual pedestrian, by combine the following condition. Walking vs Running, Stopping temporally vs Not stopping, and Walking in the parallel direction vs Walking in the orthogonal direction with respect to the subject's orientation.
16 college students were participated in this experiment, and they were asked to perform the calculation task on the desk while the movies were projected.
The application for the calculation task could had also measured the response time and correctness to each question. The fixation pattern of eye movements and the eye blinking frequency of each subject were measured at 60 Hz with the eye tracking device (EMR-9 / NAC). The electrodermal activity was measured by using the electrodermal activity meter (TS02 SPLR-AD / Techno Next).
RESULT
To evaluate the relationship between the walking type of the virtual pedestrian and the performance, the response time to each question, the reaction ratio of the electrodermal activity, and the fixation duration toward out of the working display were analyzed. The main results are as follows.
On both two conditions, the second and the third floor, there was a significant difference in response time between while the pedestrian appeared and while the pedestrian did not appear. And also, even at the same direction and movement, the response time tend to increase if the virtual pedestrians stopped temporally. When the pedestrian moved in the orthogonal direction, the response time for a question at the running pattern was shorter than the walking pattern.
The reaction ratio of the electrodermal activity is significantly higher while the pedestrian appeared, and the ratio on the condition of third floor tended to be higher than the condition of second floor. This result suggest that the pedestrian walking was some visual noise to disturbing the mental attention, and the apparent distances effects on it.
Research papers (research meetings, symposium materials and others)
