Effects of eye movement on estimating time to contact with an approaching object

摘要

When a driver has to judge whether his/her car can turn right at a junction, the driver needs to estimate time-to-contact (TTC) with cars approaching along an oppsite lane. In this situation, there are cues for depth information available to estimating TTC with the approaching car. In addition, the approaching car passes on the right side of the driver, not a frontal collision. In this case, the driver can make a pursuit eye movement to track the approaching car. This study investigated how these factors except retinal image expansion affect estimation of TTC with an approaching object. Results showed that linear perspective and texture gradient of depth cues had no effect on estimation of TTC with an approaching object. However, eye movements reduced the error of TTC estimation with a small approaching object.