COMPUTER SIMULATION OF SOME VISUAL ASPECTS OF THE DRIVING SITUATION: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

In this paper the effect of luminance in reduced visibility conditions at night, visual field position, and blur (up to two diopters), on the ability to discriminate between a simulated common potential hazard (a pedestrian who is about to cross the street) were studied, and a situation that is visually very similar, but that a priori does not involve danger (a pedestrian on the side of the street, facing away from it). Target real-life video images of a pedestrian surrounded by a background of trees and a wooden fence, on the side of a road, were used. Throughout the experiment the subjects viewed this same scene under different conditions; with foveal or 10 deg fixation, with non-blurred or blurred images, and at several mean luminance levels in the mesopic and scotopic range. (A) For the covering abstract, see IRRD 892069.