Keep right or left? Towards a cognitive-mathematical model for pedestrians

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the necessity of insight in the cognitive processes involved in environment navigation into mathematical models for pedestrian motion. We first provide a review of psychological literature on the cognitive processes involved in walking and on the quantitative one coming from applied mathematics, physics, and engineering. Then, we present a critical analysis of the experimental setting for model testing and we show experimental results given by observation. Finally we propose a cognitive model making use of psychological insight as well as optimization models from robotics.