Effects of Avatars on Street Crossing Tasks in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality technology can be used for ecologically valid assessment and rehabilitation of cognitive deficits. This article expands the scope of applications to ecologically valid multitasking. A commercially available driving simulator was upgraded by adding an ever-changing sequence of concurrent, everyday-like tasks. Furthermore, the simulator software was modified and interfaced with a non-motorized treadmill to yield a pedestrian street crossing simulator. In the latter simulator, participants walk on through a virtual city, stop at busy streets to wait for a gap in traffic, and then cross. Again, a sequence of everyday-like tasks is added. A feasibility study yielded adequate “presence” in both virtual scenarios, and plausible data about performance decrements under multi-task compared to single-task conditions. The present approach could be suitable for the assessment and training of multitasking skills in older adults and neurological patients.

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Using immersive virtual reality to evaluate pedestrian street crossing decisions at a roundabout

Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization - APGV '09 ◽

10.1145/1620993.1621001 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Haojie Wu ◽

Daniel H. Ashmead ◽

Bobby Bodenheimer

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Street Crossing ◽

Pedestrian Street

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Street Crossing by Typically Developed Children in Real and Virtual Environments

OTJR Occupation Participation and Health ◽

10.3928/15394492-20080301-01 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 89-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Orit Bart ◽

Noomi Katz ◽

Patrice L. Weiss ◽

Naomi Josman

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Low Cost ◽

Real Life ◽

Training Group ◽

After School ◽

Control Group ◽

The Real ◽

Street Crossing ◽

Before And After ◽

Serious Injury

Independent street crossing is a necessary skill for children to have so they can engage in different occupations and complete tasks such as arriving at school or after-school activities. Without the appropriate opportunities to practice and master street crossing, children's participation will be incomplete and they will not be able to attain their physical, emotional, and intellectual potentials. Training children in safe street crossing is especially important because pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of death and serious injury among children between 5 and 14 years old. The existing methods for teaching children how to cross a street safely are difficult to transfer to real-life situations. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual reality environment in teaching children how to cross a street safely. Eighty-six typical children (55 girls and 31 boys) between 7 and 12 years old participated in the study. The children who failed the virtual reality test were randomly assigned to training and control groups. The children were observed while crossing a real street and tested within the virtual environment both before and after the virtual reality training. Results indicate that children in the training group significantly improved their street crossing abilities in both the virtual reality simulation and the real street crossing in comparison to the control group. Street crossing became safer with increasing age, but no differences were found between boys and girls. This low-cost and readily available street crossing simulation had a positive effect on children's street crossing behavior in the real environment and on their self-reported satisfaction. These results provide support for the potential of training in a virtual street crossing simulation to transfer to actual street crossing.

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Understanding Sex Differences in Children’s Injury Risk as Pedestrians

Journal of Pediatric Psychology ◽

10.1093/jpepsy/jsaa072 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 (10) ◽

pp. 1144-1152

Author(s):

Barbara A Morrongiello ◽

Michael Corbett ◽

Julia Stewart

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Measurement System ◽

Injury Risk ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Proactive Approach ◽

Street Crossing ◽

Reactive Strategy ◽

Reduce Risk

Abstract Objective Boys experience more injuries as pedestrians than girls. The aim of this study was to compare how boys and girls cross streets in order to identify factors that differentially influence their injury risk as pedestrians. Methods Using a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) system interfaced with a 3D movement measurement system, various measures of children’s street-crossing behaviors were taken. Results At the start of the crossing, boys selected smaller (riskier) inter-vehicle gaps to cross into than girls. Subsequently, as they crossed, they showed greater attention to traffic, shorter start delay, and more evasive action than girls, which are strategies that could reduce risk as a pedestrian. Despite these efforts, however, boys experienced more hits and close calls than girls. Conclusion To enhance their safety as pedestrians, girls adopt a proactive approach and select larger inter-vehicle gaps to cross into, whereas boys apply a reactive approach aimed at managing the risk created by having selected smaller (riskier) gaps. Girls’ proactive approach yielded safer outcomes than boys’ reactive strategy.

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Pedestrians, Cars, and Cell Phones; Examining the Effects of Divided Attention and Aging in a Realistic Virtual Reality Street-Crossing Task

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e631702012-001 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Mark B. Neider

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Divided Attention ◽

Cell Phones ◽

Street Crossing

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