Emotion-laden stimuli influence our reactions to traffic lights

This study focused on the effects of emotion-laden stimuli (emotional roadside advertisements) on driver decision making. A common dilemma in driving is whether to speed up or brake when the lights turn yellow at an intersection. This study focused on this aspect of driver decision making. We compared the influence of emotion-laden roadside advertisements (positive, negative, and neutral solutions) either on the evaluation of possible risk (i.e., evaluative behavior) or the decision to stop/speed up (i.e., urgent behavior). We showed that drivers brake more often after negative advertisements than after positive and neutral ones; at the same time, the response latency was shorter when they decided to speed up. We also demonstrated that urgent behavior responses were faster than evaluative ones, independent of the emotional content. Thus, we conclude that urgent behavior may be more automatic than evaluative behavior according to the dual system models of risk perception and decision-making. Overall, our results suggest that emotional factors play a decisive role in making driving decisions, particularly in risky driving situations. These findings provide important information for the development of new and advanced driver emotional support systems and, in general, for the specification of future transportation police design guidelines.