Passing through a moving traffic gap: Drivers' perceptual control of approach to an intersection
LOUVETON ; MONTAGNE ; BERTHELON ; BOOTSMA
Type de document
COMMUNICATION PAR AFFICHE (AFF)
Langue
anglais
Auteur
LOUVETON ; MONTAGNE ; BERTHELON ; BOOTSMA
Résumé / Abstract
In order to safely cross an intersection a driver needs to pass through an appropriate gap within the flow of oncoming traffic. As the task can be conceived as one of intercepting a moving gap, it is comparable to an object-interception task relying on a strategy of zeroing out changes in the object's bearing angle. However, it is not clear whether the traffic gap may be reduced to a comparable object. Indeed, a traffic gap is formed by two vehicles that may be moving in different ways. Thus, we designed a driving simulator experiment in which 15 participants had to cross intersections by passing through a gap in a train of oncoming traffic. We manipulated the acceleration of both the lead and trail vehicle separately. This resulted in specific patterns of change in both global (gap size and acceleration) and local perceptual features (individual vehicle accelerations). Results revealed that both types of perceptual features influence the drivers' behaviour. Gap size and traffic vehicle acceleration conditions explained a significant part of data. Furthermore, we found that only lead vehicle's acceleration conditions significantly impacted participants' approach behaviour. These findings lead us to suggest specific hypothesis on sources of information used by drivers. Keywords: perception-action; applied vision; time perception; spatial perception
Editeur
CerCo - Brain & Cognition Research Centre
