Change detection and occlusion modes in road-traffic scenarios

Abstract

Change blindness phenomena are widely known in cognitive science, but their relation to driving is not quite clear. We report a study where subjects viewed colour video stills of natural traffic while eye movements were recorded. A change could occur randomly in three different occlusion modes-blinks, blanks and saccades-or during a fixation (as control condition). These changes could be either relevant or irrelevant with respect to the traffic safety. We used deletions as well as insertions of objects. All occlusion modes were equivalent concerning detection rate and reaction time, deviating from the control condition only. The detection of relevant changes was both more likely and faster than that of irrelevant ones, particularly for relevant insertions, which approached the base line level. Even in this case, it took about 180 ms longer to react to changes when they occurred during a saccade, blink or blank. In a second study, relevant insertions and the blank occlusion were used in a driving simulator environment. We found a surprising effect in the dynamic setting: an advantage in change detection rate and time with blanks compared to the control condition. Change detection was also good during blinks, but not in saccades. Possible explanation of these effects and their practical implications are discussed.

Change detection in urban and rural driving scenes: Effects of target type and safety relevance on change blindness

“…Previous studies have either defined task 128 relevance quite broadly (Galpin et al, 2009;Mueller and Trick, 2013;Velichkovsky et al, 2002;129 region. Participants provided written informed consent and received AUD$20.…”

“…Participants were also less likely to fixate on trees and were substantially more likely to 535 exhibit looked-but-failed-to-see errors if they did fixate trees. These patterns suggest that drivers 536 perceive roadside trees as irrelevant, as irrelevant changes are often overlooked (Galpin et al, 2009;537 Mueller and Trick, 2013;Velichkovsky et al, 2002;Zhao et al, 2014), even though target position 538 was systematically manipulated so that half of the trees appeared directly next to the road where they 539 pose a potential hazard in the event of an emergency. This is consistent with recent research which 540 found that changing roadside foliage has minimal (≤1km/h) or no effect on travel speeds (Fitzpatrick 541 et al, 2016).…”

Effect of Driving Experience on Change Detection Based on Target Relevance and Size

“…One of the most consistent effects in the driving-related change detection literature is that relevant information (such as road users) tends to be detected faster and more accurately than irrelevant information (e.g., Velichkovsky, Dornhoefer, Kopf, Helmert & Joos, 2002). However, the few studies that have examined the effects of driving expertise and target safety relevance have produced conflicting results.…”

Undetected changes in visible stimuli influence subsequent decisions

“…While early empirical work in this domain was characterized by the use of highly artificial stimuli consisting of dot matrices (Phillips, 1974) or letter arrays (Pashler, 1988), more recent demonstrations involve changes that occur in complex, realistic scenes (Rensink et al, 2000;Rensink et al, 1997;Simons, Franconeri, & Reimer, 2000;Velichkovsky, Dornhoefer, Kopf, Helmert, & Joos, 2002). Change blindness challenges introspective judgments that our perception of the world is complete and accurate-a belief so strongly held that it has been dubbed "change blindness blindness" (Levin, Momen, Drivdahl, & Simons, 2000).…”