Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.

When judging the time-to-collision (TTC) of visually presented accelerating vehicles, untrained observers do not adequately account for acceleration (second-order information). Instead, their estimations only rely on vehicle distance and velocity (first-order information). As a result, they systemic...

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Main Authors: Marlene Wessels, Heiko Hecht, Thirsa Huisman, Daniel Oberfeld
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288206&type=printable
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author Marlene Wessels
Heiko Hecht
Thirsa Huisman
Daniel Oberfeld
author_facet Marlene Wessels
Heiko Hecht
Thirsa Huisman
Daniel Oberfeld
author_sort Marlene Wessels
collection DOAJ
description When judging the time-to-collision (TTC) of visually presented accelerating vehicles, untrained observers do not adequately account for acceleration (second-order information). Instead, their estimations only rely on vehicle distance and velocity (first-order information). As a result, they systemically overestimate the TTC for accelerating objects, which represents a potential risk for pedestrians in traffic situations because it might trigger unsafe road-crossing behavior. Can training help reduce these estimation errors? In this study, we tested whether training with trial-by-trial feedback about the signed deviation of the estimated from the actual TTC can improve TTC estimation accuracy for accelerating vehicles. Using a prediction-motion paradigm, we measured the estimated TTCs of twenty participants for constant-velocity and accelerated vehicle approaches, from a pedestrian's perspective in a VR traffic simulation. The experiment included three blocks, of which only the second block provided trial-by-trial feedback about the TTC estimation accuracy. Participants adjusted their estimations during and after the feedback, but they failed to differentiate between accelerated and constant-velocity approaches. Thus, the feedback did not help them account for acceleration. The results suggest that a safety training program based on trial-by-trial feedback is not a promising countermeasure against pedestrians' erroneous TTC estimation for accelerating objects.
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spelling doaj-art-2ddbc66cfda545ac88d0ec121398dcdf2025-08-20T02:38:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01188e028820610.1371/journal.pone.0288206Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.Marlene WesselsHeiko HechtThirsa HuismanDaniel OberfeldWhen judging the time-to-collision (TTC) of visually presented accelerating vehicles, untrained observers do not adequately account for acceleration (second-order information). Instead, their estimations only rely on vehicle distance and velocity (first-order information). As a result, they systemically overestimate the TTC for accelerating objects, which represents a potential risk for pedestrians in traffic situations because it might trigger unsafe road-crossing behavior. Can training help reduce these estimation errors? In this study, we tested whether training with trial-by-trial feedback about the signed deviation of the estimated from the actual TTC can improve TTC estimation accuracy for accelerating vehicles. Using a prediction-motion paradigm, we measured the estimated TTCs of twenty participants for constant-velocity and accelerated vehicle approaches, from a pedestrian's perspective in a VR traffic simulation. The experiment included three blocks, of which only the second block provided trial-by-trial feedback about the TTC estimation accuracy. Participants adjusted their estimations during and after the feedback, but they failed to differentiate between accelerated and constant-velocity approaches. Thus, the feedback did not help them account for acceleration. The results suggest that a safety training program based on trial-by-trial feedback is not a promising countermeasure against pedestrians' erroneous TTC estimation for accelerating objects.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288206&type=printable
spellingShingle Marlene Wessels
Heiko Hecht
Thirsa Huisman
Daniel Oberfeld
Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
PLoS ONE
title Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
title_full Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
title_fullStr Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
title_full_unstemmed Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
title_short Trial-by-trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time-to-collision estimation.
title_sort trial by trial feedback fails to improve the consideration of acceleration in visual time to collision estimation
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288206&type=printable
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AT thirsahuisman trialbytrialfeedbackfailstoimprovetheconsiderationofaccelerationinvisualtimetocollisionestimation
AT danieloberfeld trialbytrialfeedbackfailstoimprovetheconsiderationofaccelerationinvisualtimetocollisionestimation