Calibration, information, and control strategies for braking to avoid a collision

J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2005 Jun;31(3):480-501. doi: 10.1037/0096-1523.31.3.480.

Abstract

This study explored visual control strategies for braking to avoid collision by manipulating information about speed of self-motion. Participants watched computer-generated displays and used a brake to stop at an object in the path of motion. Global optic flow rate and edge rate were manipulated by adjusting eye-height and ground-texture size. Stopping distance, initiation of braking, and the magnitude of brake adjustments were influenced by both optical variables, but global optic flow rate had a stronger effect. A new model is introduced according to which braking is controlled by keeping the perceived ideal deceleration, based in part on global optic flow rate, within a "safe" region between 0 and the maximum deceleration of the brake.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Automobile Driving / psychology*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Deceleration
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Models, Psychological
  • Motion Perception / physiology*
  • Orientation / physiology*
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Psychophysics
  • Reaction Time
  • Space Perception / physiology*