Doing It For The Thrill

We say that our feelings can be like a rollercoaster – and, as it turns out, the psychology of our emotions has influenced rollercoaster design from the beginning. Thrill engineer Prof Brendan Walker spoke to Amy Barrett about fairground rides, adrenaline and adventure, and why we seek out the seemingly scary

- Amy Barrett

What does a ‘thrill engineer’ do?

I came up with the term because I like the idea of combining the objective practice of engineering and creating things with rules with the subjective elements of human emotions. Being a thrill engineer means I craft extreme, human emotional experiences using design principles.

What psychological levers are you trying to pull when you design a rollercoaster?

If I put you on a rollercoaster and blindfolded you, your body’s levels of arousal would pretty precisely track the changes in acceleration forces felt around the ride. Rollercoasters are successful because they grab hold of that element of arousal. We can almost force an emotional experience by the very shape of the rollercoaster because it’s so tightly interlinked with physical sensations that we get from the world.

What emotions do we go through on a ride?

We have 43 different muscle groups in the face, and any combination can express various emotions that we’re feeling.

I was interested in using the techniques that computers use to detect human expressions and understand people’s emotions on rides. Dr James Condron from Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a galvanic skin-response monitoring device and worked with me on a project. We put people on fairground rides and used the technology to fire a camera when the device measured high levels of arousal. The ten portraits from that project absolutely set in stone the range of emotions experienced across different ride types.