Two experiments examined developmental changes in the accuracy of children's judgments about their physical abilities. Experiment 1 showed that 6-and 8-year-olds overestimated their ability to perform tasks just beyond and well beyond their ability. Adults only had difficulty making judgments about tasks just beyond their ability. Experiment 2 investigated how experience with performing activities influences judgments about physical abilities. Six-year-olds again overestimated their ability to perform tasks just beyond and well beyond their ability. Eight-year-olds were more accurate about tasks well beyond than just beyond their ability. In both experiments, overestimation of ability was associated with accidental injuries for 6-but not for 8-year-olds. The discussion focuses on children's overestimation of physical abilities and the relation between overestimation and accident proneness. Promoting children's safety and health are concerns shared by pediatricians, developmental psychologists, and educators. Accident prevention clearly plays an integral role in children's health, as accidents are the leading cause of death in children under age 18 (Rodriguez & Brown, 1990). The alarming statistics on children's accidents have led to investigations by researchers on issues such as pedestrian safety (

We conducted two experiments that compared distance perception in real and virtual environments in six visual presentation methods using either timed imagined walking or direct blindfolded walking, while controlling for several other factors that could potentially impact distance perception. Our presentation conditions included unencumbered real world, real world seen through an HMD, virtual world seen through an HMD, augmented reality seen through an HMD, virtual world seen on multiple, large immersive screens, and photo-based presentation of the real world seen on multiple, large immersive screens. We found that there was a similar degree of underestimation of distance in the HMD and large-screen presentations of virtual environments. We also found that while wearing the HMD can cause some degree of distance underestimation, this effect depends on the measurement protocol used. Finally, we found that photo-based presentation did not help to improve distance perception in a large-screen immersive display system. The discussion focuses on points of similarity and difference with previous work on distance estimation in real and virtual environments.

Two experiments were conducted to compare distance perception in real and virtual environments. In Experiment 1, adults estimated how long it would take to walk to targets in real and virtual environments by starting and stopping a stopwatch while looking at a target person standing between 20 and 120 ft away. The real environment was a large grassy lawn in front of a university building. We replicated this scene in our virtual environment using a nonstereoscopic, large screen immersive display system. We found that people underestimated time to walk in both environments for distances of 40-60 ft and beyond. However, time-to-walk estimates were virtually identical across the two environments. In Experiment 2, 10-and 12-year-old children and adults estimated time to walk in real and virtual environments both with and without vision. Adults again underestimated time to walk in both environments for distances of 60 ft and beyond. Again, their estimates were virtually identical in the real and virtual environment both with and without vision. Children's time-to-walk estimates were also very similar across the two environments under both viewing conditions. We conclude that distance perception may be better in virtual environments involving large screen immersive displays than those involving head mounted displays (HMDs).

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This study examined longitudinal and concurrent relations between temperament, ability estimation, and injury proneness. Longitudinal assessments of Inhibitory Control were collected through a behavioral battery at toddler (33 months) and preschool ages (46 months). Parent-reported measures of Inhibitory Control and Extraversion also were obtained at those ages. At school age (76 months), children participated in a set of tasks to assess overestimation and underestimation of physical abilities. Parents provided reports of children's temperament and injury history at school age. Results showed that children who were high on Extraversion and low on Inhibitory Control as toddlers and preschoolers tended to overestimate their physical abilities and to have more unintentional injuries at age 6. Children low on Extraversion and high on Inhibitory Control tended to underestimate their physical abilities. Implications for injury prevention are discussed.