Recent technological advancements have enabled the development of smarter (more automated) and more intelligent (adaptable) environments. To understand what factors lead users to reject or adopt Intelligent Environments (IEs), we reviewed nine prominent technology adoption theories. We conducted a literature review to investigate the acceptance and adoption of different types of IEs. We found that perceived usefulness, ease of use, perceived control or self-efficacy, affect and enjoyment, and perceived risks are the common factors across the studies explaining the adoption of IEs. However, shortcomings in the design and methods of the reviewed studies present major concerns in the generalizability and application of existing theories to emerging IEs. We identify eight lacunae in the existing literature and propose a new conceptual model for explaining the adoption of IEs. Through this study, we contribute to the formulation of the theoretical background for the successful introduction of IEs and their integration into users’ everyday life.

While driving research on affect has mostly focused on anger and road rage, there has been little empirical research on other affective states. Affect researchers widely acknowledge the “sadder but wiser” phenomenon, but there is little evidence if this tendency can be applied to the driving environment as well. The objective of the present study is to empirically test whether sadness enhances driving performance as the sadder but wiser notion might predict or sadness impairs driving performance as its negative valence or low arousal dimension might predict. The study consists of a simulated driving experiment with induced anger, sadness, and neutral affect to examine how anger and sadness influence driving-related risk perception, driving performance, and perceived workload. Sixty-one young drivers drove under three different road conditions with either induced anger, sadness, or neutral affect conditions. After affect induction, there was no difference in subjective risk perception across three affect conditions. However, participants in both affect conditions showed significantly more errors and took longer driving time than those in the neutral condition. Only participants with induced anger reported significantly higher physical workload and frustration than participants with neutral affect. Results are discussed in terms of affect mechanisms, design directions for the in-vehicle affect mitigation system, and limitations of the study.

Recent hand tracking systems and wearable haptic devices have contributed to enhancing user experience in virtual environments. However, controllers are still prevalent in virtual reality (VR) games as a main interaction device. Also, haptic devices are rare and not widely accepted by users. In this article, we examined the effects of interaction methods and vibrotactile feedback on users’ sense of presence, engagement, usability, and task performance in a VR game. In our experiment, 36 participants wearing VR goggle played a rhythm game under three conditions: (1) VR controllers, (2) hand tracking without vibrotactile feedback, and (3) hand tracking with vibrotactile feedback at fingertips through the gloves we developed. Results showed that hand tracking improved presence, engagement, usability, and performance, compared to the VR controller. Furthermore, vibrotactile feedback enhanced presence and engagement even more clearly. Results are discussed with the components of VR user experience and practical design guidelines.