title: Walking, looking to the side, and taking curved paths.
abstract: In two experiments, viewers judged heading from displays simulating locomotion through tree-filled environments, with gaze off to the side. They marked their heading with a mouse-controlled probe at three different depths. When simulated eye or head rotation generally exceeded 0.5 deg/sec, there was reliable curvature in perceived paths toward the fixated object. This curvature, however, was slight even with rotation rates as great as 2.6 deg/sec. Best-fit paths to circular arcs had radii of 1.8 km or greater. In a third experiment, pedestrians walked with matched gaze to the side. Measured curvature in the direction of gaze corresponded to a circular radius of about 1.3 km. Thus, at minimum, vision scientists need not worry about perceived path curvature in this situation; real path curvatures are about the same. However, at present, we can make no claim that the same mechanisms necessarily govern the two results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-7601, USA. jec7@cornell.edu
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cutting
authors.forename: Wilson O
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Readinger
authors.forename: Ranxiao Frances
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003867:Depth Perception; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D011601:Psychophysics; D012931:Social Environment; D016138:Walking