Children's Perceptual Capacity to Detect Collision Impact

Two experiments investigated children’s perceptual capacity to detect potential collision impacts. Children from 4 to 12 years of age participated as observers in the study. In Experiment 1, displays depicted either a small car or a large truck approaching the observer against a road-scene background, producing a local perturbation in the visual field. In Experiment 2 displays depicted the observer’s own movement toward obstacles (a global perturbation of the visual field). Simulated approaches were created following the tau-dot hypothesis in which, when tau-dot ≥ -0.5, approaches result in safe stops without collision; but when tau-dot < -0.5, approaches result in collisions with impact. Predefined tau-dot values remained constant throughout each simulated approach. Results demonstrated that 4-6 year olds performed poorly compared with 7-12 year olds. Nevertheless, even the 4 year olds performed consistently with that predicted by the tau-dot hypothesis in Experiment 1 but their performance deteriorated to chance level in Experiment 2. Current child pedestrian safety education focuses on facilitating children’s abilities to cross streets safely by enhancing their sensitivity to optical variables specifying time-to-contact. This research supports developing children’s perceptual capacity to detect potential collision impact as part of these training programs.

keywords: Child pedestrian safety, street crossing, tau-dot, collision impact, time-to-contact, traffic safety education, 어린이 보행자 교통사고, 도로횡단, tau-dot, 충돌탐지, 접촉시간, 교통안전교육

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Article Contents

Vol.32 No.2

Children's Perceptual Capacity to Detect Collision Impact

Abstract

Reference

Korean Journal of Psychology: General