On the feasibility of using pupil diameter to estimate cognitive load changes for in-vehicle spoken dialogues

In a driving simulator study, we explore the feasibility of using pupil diameter to estimate how the cognitive load of the driver changes during a spoken dialogue with a remote conversant. We confirm that it is feasible to use pupil diameter to differentiate between parts of the dialogue that increase the cognitive load of the driver, and those that decrease it. Our long term goal is to build a spoken dialogue system that can adapt its behavior when the driver is under high cognitive load, whether from the driving task or the dialogue task.

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