Curvilinear approach to an intersection and visual detection of a collision.
Visual motion perception plays a fundamental role in vehicle control. Recent studies have shown that the pattern of optical flow resulting from the observer's self-motion through a stable environment is used by the observer to accurately control his or her movements. However, little is known about the perception of another vehicle during self-motion--for instance, when a car driver approaches an intersection with traffic. In a series of experiments using visual simulations of car driving, we show that observers are able to detect the presence of a moving object during self-motion. However, the perception of the other car's trajectory appears to be strongly dependent on environmental factors, such as the presence of a road sign near the intersection or the shape of the road. These results suggest that local and global visual factors determine the perception of a car's trajectory during self-motion.
Berthelon
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French National Institute for Research on Transportation and Safety (INRETS), Salon-de-Provence.
Mestre
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D001334:Automobile Driving; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis