Speed, size, and edge-rate information for the detection of collision events.

Abstract

In the present study an alternative analysis to tau was considered that was based on perceived speed and size and that assumed constant deceleration for the detection of collision events. Observers were presented with displays simulating a 3-D environment with obstacles in the path of observer motion. During the trial, observer motion decelerated at a constant rate and was followed by a blackout prior to the end of the display. Observers had to detect which trials resulted in a collision. The results indicate that collision detection varied as a function of the size of the obstacles, observer speed, and edge rate--findings not predicted by an analysis of tau. The results suggest that observers use an analysis based on speed and size information. A model that assumes constant deceleration is proposed for braking control.

Measuring drivers’ visual information needs during braking: A simulator study using a screen-occlusion method

“…Contrastingly, the people driving in the control condition were more likely to 'slam' the brakes (at TTA = 2 s) or release the brakes (at TTA = 8 s). Our results are consistent with a study by Andersen et al (1999) in which participants non-interactively observed a scene of which the motion decelerated at a constant rate followed by a blackout of the display. Their results showed that the longer the blackout period, the less accurate participants were in determining whether they were on collision course with a stop sign.…”

“…A third limitation is that the participants in our study were relatively young, with a mean age of 27 years and two thirds of them being younger than 30 years. There is some evidence that older participants make more conservative, but less accurate, decisions in braking tasks (e.g., Andersen et al, 1999;Bian & Andersen, 2014). Future research should investigate whether our results can be generalized to different age and experience levels.…”

“…Tresilian (1999) suggested that interceptive or collision-avoidance actions are situation-dependent: through rehearsing the task, humans learn to identify the information that is useful for performing the task, and they filter the information that interferes with satisfactory task performance. In braking, experimental studies have shown that drivers make their braking decisions based on several factors, including the criticality of the event, the size and intensity of the event stimuli, and the global optical flow rate (Andersen, Cisneros, Atchley, & Saidpour, 1999;DeLucia & Tharanathan, 2009;Fajen, 2005a;Liebermann, Ben-David, Schweitzer, Apter, & Parush, 1995;Van Der Hulst, Meijman, & Rothengatter, 1999).…”

“…The potential of occlusion methods for understanding driver information needs While driving, visual information is sometimes unavailable, because drivers may be visually distracted or because the visual scene is blocked by conditions such as rain or fog. Former experiments have used the so-called occlusion method to gain insight into how humans perform driving tasks in the absence of continuous visual information (Andersen et al, 1999;Godthelp, Milgram, & Blaauw, 1984;Senders, Kristofferson, Levison, Dietrich, & Ward, 1967;Van Der Horst, 2004;Van Leeuwen, Happee, & De Winter, 2014). For example, using a shutter by means of which participants could request looking periods when they wished to, Senders et al (1967) showed that as the speed of the car and the density of the surrounding traffic increase, the attentional demand of driving increases as well.…”

Calibration, Information, and Control Strategies for Braking to Avoid a Collision.

“…Andersen et al (1999) tested the hypothesis that observers use to judge whether they will collide with or stop short of a stationary obstacle during a constant deceleration approach. Although judgments were highly correlated with , they were also influenced by factors that affect both perceived target distance (e.g., target size) and perceived speed of self-motion (e.g., edge rate).…”