A study on differences in visual bahavior between daytime and twilight and their effects on judgement and impression

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K12082
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 61060:Kansei informatics-related
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Nomoto Kohei 山形大学, 大学院理工学研究科, 客員教授 (60456267)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 視線計測 / 薄暮 / 歩行者 / 交通事故 / Time to Collision / 視行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Traffic accidents between pedestrians and vehicles occur frequently during twilight. This study examined this issue from pedestrian's perspective, focusing on visual behavior specific to twilight.
Experiments were conducted in which participants wore an eye tracker and walked during daytime, twilight, and nighttime. Gaze point was converted into numerical data in spatial coordinates and analyzed quantitatively. We also developed a method for estimating the distance between a pedestrian and a vehicle from eye tracking data. Furthermore, we defined an index called ETTC to evaluate the time margin to avoid danger.
The analysis revealed that, compared to daytime and nighttime, during twilight, visual behavior is more likely to involve staring, the search space narrows in the left and right directions, and there was less time available to avoid danger when pedestrians notice oncoming vehicles.

Free Research Field

感性情報学関連

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

薄暮には歩行者と車両との事故が多発する．従来は運転者の側からの研究が多かったこの問題を，本研究は歩行者の側から扱ったものである．また，薄暮の視行動は日中と夜間との中間的なものではない特有のものであり，これが歩行者の側の問題になっている，という仮説に基づいている．
本研究の解析は，以下の特徴を持つ：(1)視線計測装置の出力を数値データとして定量的に解析した．(2)歩行者と車両との距離を，視線計測データから推定する方法を開発して用いた．(3)ETTCという指標を定義して危険回避までの時間的余裕を評価した．
研究の結果明らかになった事実は，無意識の視行動であり，交通事故の削減に寄与するものである．