Synchronizing self and object movement: How child and adult cyclists intercept moving gaps in a virtual environment.

Abstract

Two experiments examined how 10- and 12-year-old children and adults intercept moving gaps while bicycling in an immersive virtual environment. Participants rode an actual bicycle along a virtual roadway. At 12 test intersections, participants attempted to pass through a gap between 2 moving, car-sized blocks without stopping. The blocks were timed such that it was sometimes necessary for participants to adjust their speed in order to pass through the gap. We manipulated available visual information by presenting the target blocks in isolation in Experiment 1 and in streams of blocks in Experiment 2. In both experiments, adults had more time to spare than did children. Both groups had more time to spare when they were required to slow down than when they were required to speed up. Participants’ behavior revealed a multistage interception strategy that cannot be explained by the use of a monotonic control law such as the constant bearing angle strategy. The General Discussion section focuses on possible sources of changes in perception-action coupling over development and on task-specific constraints that could underlie the observed interception strategy.

Intercepting a moving traffic gap while avoiding collision with lead and trail vehicles: Gap-related and boundary-related influences on drivers’ speed regulations during approach to an intersection

“…The existing studies do not satisfy this requirement and, hence, do not allow answering the question posed. In both Louveton et al's (in press) and Chihak et al's (2010) studies all elements of the traffic train always moved at the same constant speed over the course of a trial. As this implies a gap (of constant size) moving at constant velocity, such an experimental design does not allow separating out the effects of local and global contributions.…”

“…Notwithstanding its ubiquity in every-day intersection-crossing behavior, studies addressing the perceptuo-motor mechanisms underlying the regulated-approach strategy have only appeared recently. Louveton, Bootsma, Guerrin, Berthelon, and Montagne (in press) and Chihak et al (2010) studied the spatiotemporal patterns of approach to an intersection with incoming traffic in situations where participants drove a car or rode a bicycle, respectively. Both these studies independently conceived of the task as that of intercepting a moving gap, drawing their inspiration from work on intercepting moving objects.…”

Visual guidance during bicycle steering through narrow lanes: A study in children

“…According to the Task Capability Interface model (TCI-model;Fuller, 2005), speed choice is the predominant way to control task difficulty. Since children do not yet possess the perceptual-motor and cycling skills of adults (Assaiante, 2011;Chihak et al, 2010;Hatzitaki et al, 2002;Plumert et al, 2011;Zeuwts et al, 2015), they most likely have a lower capability than the adults as well. Therefore, the lower cycling speed could be a compensation for this lower capability.…”

“…They adopt different visual search strategies, featured by a limited use of peripheral vision, watching irrelevant areas in their field of view, and less switching between relevant cues compared to adults. As a result, they need more time to make decisions and have difficulties in synchronizing themselves with moving objects (AmpofoBoateng and Thomson, 1991;Chihak et al, 2010;Franchak and Adolph, 2010;Plumert et al, 2007;Thomson et al, 1996;Whitebread and Neilson, 2000). In contrast to the relatively well documented visual behaviour in young pedestrians, it remains unclear to what extent these less developed cognitive skills affect the cycling behaviour of learner cyclists.…”

122 How do children learn to cross the street? The process of pedestrian safety training

“…It is considered an indicator of a child's cognitive processing efficiency as a pedestrian (Barton 2006;Chihak et al 2010;Plumert et al 2004;Thomson et al 2005). Children with limited experience as pedestrians may begin to consider the safety of a traffic gap only when that gap actually appears, rather than anticipating gaps that will appear by processing the two bidirectional lanes separately and even entering the near lane first when …”