Citation

Feldstein IT, Peli E. Perception 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publications)

DOI

10.1177/0301006620914789

PMID

32237967

Abstract

Does the brightness of an approaching vehicle affect a pedestrian’s crossing decision? Thirty participants indicated their street-crossing intentions when facing approaching light or dark vehicles. The experiment was conducted in a real daylight environment and, additionally, in a corresponding virtual one. A real road with actual cars provides high face validity, while a virtual environment ensures the scenario’s precise reproducibility and repeatability for each participant. In both settings, participants judged dark vehicles to be a more imminent threat—either closer or moving faster—when compared with light ones. Secondary results showed that participants accepted a significantly shorter time-to-contact when crossing the street in the virtual setting than on the real road.

Language: en

Keywords

collision judgment; immersive virtual environment; pedestrian simulator; simulator validation; street crossing; time-to-arrival; time-to-collision; time-to-contact; vehicle brightness; velocity judgment; virtual reality