The impact of night vision goggles on wayfinding performance and the acquisition of spatial knowledge

Abstract

The author has granted a non exclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distribute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or non commercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. AVIS: L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou autres formats. i * i Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ii Table o f Contents iii List of Tables vii List of Figures viii List of Appendices ix Introduction Background and Overview Conceptual fram ework fo r understanding the acquisition o f spatial knowledge through visual cues 4 What is spatial knowledge? How is spatial knowledge acquired? The role o f vision in the acquisition o f spatial knowledgebackground Static spatial information (landmark-based recognition) 8 Dynamic spatial information (dead-reckoning) 10 Summary o f static and dynamic spatial information involved in spatial cognition The impact o f constrained viewing conditions on the acquisition and use o f spatial knowledge Summary 14 NVGs and the acquisition o f spatial knowledge 15 Study Proposal 17 Significance fo r an NVG study 17 Research Approach 18 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Methods fo r assessing survey knowledge Research Questions Main Hypotheses Methods and Materials 22 Participants 22 Study Design 22 Experimental Tasks Measurements Navigation Performance Measurements. Relative Pointing Measurements. Distance Judgment Measurements. Map Analysis Measurements. Materials and Apparatus Experimental setup. Landmark and object configuration. 31 Night Vision Goggles. NVGs and pinhole optics.

Spatial Vision Meets Spatial Cognition: Examining the Effect of Visual Blur on Human Visually Guided Route Learning

“…Although these systems enhance luminance, they do not provide true daytime vision. The view through NVGs is impaired by visual field limitations, dynamic scintillating luminance noise, and ömost germane to the current studyöa significant degree of blur caused by quantisation (Gauthier et al 2008;Macuda et al 2005). The effect of this quantisation on navigation performance has been a concern, as NVG systems are routinely worn by soldiers and pilots who must navigate using them and there is evidence that their use is implicated in many accidents or near-accidents (Braithwaite et al 1998;Vyrnwy-Jones 1988).…”

“…In research on how NVGs affect spatial knowledge, their effects in a global fashion have typically been examined. That is, participants wear NVGs and experience all of the visual limitations they impose (eg Gauthier et al 2008;Macuda et al 2005). Our research suggests that examining the various forms of visual component limitations in isolation would provide useful feedback on how to design better systems and how to compensate for the limitations imposed by current systems.…”

“…This is because NVGs reduce visual acuity to between 20/30 and 20/60 (Macuda et al 2005), which is far less blur than the point at which we see significant impairments to route-learning performance (around 20/110 to 20/130). Thus, it seems likely that it is the visual-field limitations or scintillating motion noise that NVGs produce (Gauthier et al 2008;Macuda et al 2005), or some combination of these and other factors, that contributes to spatial positioning difficulties while wearing them. In research on how NVGs affect spatial knowledge, their effects in a global fashion have typically been examined.…”

Using the Landmark–Route–Survey Framework to Evaluate Spatial Knowledge Obtained From Synthetic Vision Systems

“…Stuart and Hughes (2009) suggested that night vision displays might have adverse effects on scene recognition compared to viewing natural-colored images of the same scenes. Gauthier et al (2008) have shown that the use of night vision goggles affected the acquisition of SpK in a task judging the relative positions of an object and in a map-drawing task.…”