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Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired

Often, we have to rely on limited information when judging time-to-contact (TTC), as for example, when driving in foul weather, or in situations where we would need reading glasses but do not have them handy. However, most existing studies on the ability to judge TTC have worked with optimal visual...

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Autores principales: Hecht, Heiko, Brendel, Esther, Wessels, Marlene, Bernhard, Christoph
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8551319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34707116
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00331-5
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author Hecht, Heiko
Brendel, Esther
Wessels, Marlene
Bernhard, Christoph
author_facet Hecht, Heiko
Brendel, Esther
Wessels, Marlene
Bernhard, Christoph
author_sort Hecht, Heiko
collection PubMed
description Often, we have to rely on limited information when judging time-to-contact (TTC), as for example, when driving in foul weather, or in situations where we would need reading glasses but do not have them handy. However, most existing studies on the ability to judge TTC have worked with optimal visual stimuli. In a prediction motion task, we explored to what extent TTC estimation is affected by visual stimulus degradation. A simple computer-simulated object approached the observer at constant speed either with clear or impaired vision. It was occluded after 1 or 1.5 s. The observers extrapolated the object’s motion and pressed a button when they thought the object would have collided with them. We found that dioptric blur and simulated snowfall shortened TTC-estimates. Contrast reduction produced by a virtual semi-transparent mask lengthened TTC estimates, which could be the result of distance overestimation or speed underestimation induced by the lower contrast or the increased luminance of the mask. We additionally explored the potential influence of arousal and valence, although they played a minor role for basic TTC estimation. Our findings suggest that vision impairments have adverse effects on TTC estimation, depending on the specific type of degradation and the changes of the visual environmental cues which they cause.
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spelling pubmed-85513192021-11-01 Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired Hecht, Heiko Brendel, Esther Wessels, Marlene Bernhard, Christoph Sci Rep Article Often, we have to rely on limited information when judging time-to-contact (TTC), as for example, when driving in foul weather, or in situations where we would need reading glasses but do not have them handy. However, most existing studies on the ability to judge TTC have worked with optimal visual stimuli. In a prediction motion task, we explored to what extent TTC estimation is affected by visual stimulus degradation. A simple computer-simulated object approached the observer at constant speed either with clear or impaired vision. It was occluded after 1 or 1.5 s. The observers extrapolated the object’s motion and pressed a button when they thought the object would have collided with them. We found that dioptric blur and simulated snowfall shortened TTC-estimates. Contrast reduction produced by a virtual semi-transparent mask lengthened TTC estimates, which could be the result of distance overestimation or speed underestimation induced by the lower contrast or the increased luminance of the mask. We additionally explored the potential influence of arousal and valence, although they played a minor role for basic TTC estimation. Our findings suggest that vision impairments have adverse effects on TTC estimation, depending on the specific type of degradation and the changes of the visual environmental cues which they cause. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8551319/ /pubmed/34707116 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00331-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Hecht, Heiko
Brendel, Esther
Wessels, Marlene
Bernhard, Christoph
Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title_full Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title_fullStr Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title_full_unstemmed Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title_short Estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
title_sort estimating time-to-contact when vision is impaired
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8551319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34707116
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00331-5
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