Age-related differences in collision detection during deceleration.

Abstract

Observers were presented with displays simulating a 3-D environment with obstacles in the path of motion. During the trial, observer motion decelerated at a constant rate and was followed by a blackout prior to the end of the display. On some trials the rate of deceleration resulted in stopping before the collision, whereas on other trials the rate of deceleration resulted in a collision with the obstacles. The observer's task was to detect which trials simulated an impending collision. Proportion of collision judgments was greater for older as compared with younger observers when a collision was not simulated. Older observers showed less sensitivity to detect collisions than younger observers did, particularly at high speeds. The age-dependent results are discussed in terms of analyses based on tau and constant deceleration. The results suggest that increased accident rates for older drivers may be due to an inability to detect collisions at high speeds.

Perceptual learning and the visual control of braking

“…The single optical invariant assumption is difficult to reconcile with findings demonstrating biases in performance that are inconsistent with the use of an optical invariant. In braking, for example, Andersen and colleagues (Andersen, Cisneros, Atchley, & Saidpour, 1999;Andersen & Sauer, 2004) have reported speed and size effects inconsistent with the use of , which is invariant across speed and size. Fajen (2005a) found robust effects of the global optic flow rate from the ground plane, which is independent of .…”

The impact of spatiotemporal sampling on time-to-contact judgments

“…Evidence is accumulating that observers do not use tau information when solving TTC tasks but, rather, resort to simpler cues whenever such cues are available. For instance, Andersen, Cisneros, Atchley, and Saidpour (1999) concluded that observers use an analysis based on speed and size information, rather than tau. This is supported by effects of the size of visual obstacles, observer speed, and edge rate on judged TTC.…”

The Effect of Aging and Ground Texture on the Control of Braking

“…As can be seen, younger drivers have the highest proportion of (15.6%) at -0.5, which is consistent with previous studies providing support to regulating at -0.5 in collision judgments (Andersen et. al., 1999(Andersen et. al., , 2000Andersen & Sauer, 2004) and active braking control (Andersen & Sauer, 2004;Yilmaz & Warren, 1995;Fajen, 2005).…”

“…Andersen et al (2000) found that older drivers were less sensitive to collision events as compared to younger drivers, especially at high speed. In addition, older drivers made more collision judgments than younger drivers when non-collision events were simulated.…”