Pedestrian guidance model using body sway and optical flow in peripheral visual field

Abstract

In daily life, our behavior is guided by various visual stimuli such as the information on direction signs. However, our environmentally based perceptual capacity is often challenged in crowded circumstances, or more so, in emergency evacuation circumstances. In these situations, we often fail to pay attention to important signs. In order to achieve more effective direction guidance, we considered the use of unconscious reflexes in human walking action. In this study, we experimented with vision-guided walking direction control by optic flow stimulus combined with body sway. We observed a shift in subjects' walking direction and body sway and discuss the possible mechanism.