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The science of thrill
Riders experience a greater acceleration of heart rate before they sample a thrill ride than when they actually ride it. That was one of the facts uncovered when amusement rides and the science of thrill came under scrutiny recently at the Science Museum in London.
Artist Brendan Walker staged an entertaining three-week series of events titled Fairground: Thrill Laboratory. Each week a different ride was built up outside the museum’s Dana Centre and ticket holders paid £10 (@14) each to hear a diverse range of speakers talk about the ride and theme in question ...before riding it.
The first week examined the theme of ‘Pleasure’ by using a Miami ride; followed by ‘Frisson’ and a Ghost Train on week two and ‘Excitement’ for the final two sessions, demonstrated by a KMG Speed propeller ride.
Speakers included Richard Cadell of Brean Leisure Park, Jack Souilljee of KMG/Innorides and Dan of Howland from the Journal of Ride Theory. Sociologist Alex Taylor of Microsoft Research, meanwhile, was strapped up to a heart rate monitor, accelerometer and video camera as part of the experiments.
