scholarly journals The Perception of Walking Speed in a Virtual Environment

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Banton ◽  
Jeanine Stefanucci ◽  
Frank Durgin ◽  
Adam Fass ◽  
Dennis Proffitt

Studies of locomotion in virtual environments assume that correct geometric principles define the relationship between walking speed and environmental flow. However, we have observed that geometrically correct optic flow appears to be too slow during simulated locomotion on a treadmill. Experiment 1 documents the effect in a head-mounted display. Experiment 2 shows that the effect is eliminated when the gaze is directed downward or to the side, or when the walking speed is slow. Experiment 3 shows that the effect is unchanged by stride length. Experiment 4 verifies that the effect is not attributable to image jitter. The change in perceived speed from straight ahead to side or down gaze coincides with a shift from expanding optic flow to lamellar flow. Therefore, we hypothesize that lamellar flow is necessary for accurate speed perception, and that a limited field of view eliminates this cue during straight-ahead gaze.

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Wiklund

Asperger syndrome (AS) is a form of high-functioning autism characterized by qualitative impairment in social interaction. People afflicted with AS typically have abnormal nonverbal behaviors which are often manifested by avoiding eye contact. Gaze constitutes an important interactional resource, and an AS person’s tendency to avoid eye contact may affect the fluidity of conversations and cause misunderstandings. For this reason, it is important to know the precise ways in which this avoidance is done, and in what ways it affects the interaction. The objective of this article is to describe the gaze behavior of preadolescent AS children in institutional multiparty conversations. Methodologically, the study is based on conversation analysis and a multimodal study of interaction. The findings show that three main patterns are used for avoiding eye contact: 1) fixing one’s gaze straight ahead; 2) letting one’s gaze wander around; and 3) looking at one’s own hands when speaking. The informants of this study do not look at the interlocutors at all in the beginning or the middle of their turn. However, sometimes they turn to look at the interlocutors at the end of their turn. This proves that these children are able to use gaze as a source of feedback. When listening, looking at the speaker also seems to be easier for them than looking at the listeners when speaking.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoo Jin Choo ◽  
Min Cheol Chang

AbstractWe conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of ankle–foot orthosis (AFO) use in improving gait biomechanical parameters such as walking speed, mobility, and kinematics in patients with stroke with gait disturbance. We searched the MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Cochrane, Embase, and Scopus databases and retrieved studies published until June 2021. Experimental and prospective studies were included that evaluated biomechanics or kinematic parameters with or without AFO in patients with stroke. We analyzed gait biomechanical parameters, including walking speed, mobility, balance, and kinematic variables, in studies involving patients with and without AFO use. The criteria of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions were used to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies, and the level of evidence was evaluated using the Research Pyramid model. Funnel plot analysis and Egger’s test were performed to confirm publication bias. A total of 19 studies including 434 participants that reported on the immediate or short-term effectiveness of AFO use were included in the analysis. Significant improvements in walking speed (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.50; 95% CI 0.34–0.66; P < 0.00001; I2, 0%), cadence (SMD, 0.42; 95% CI 0.22–0.62; P < 0.0001; I2, 0%), step length (SMD, 0.41; 95% CI 0.18–0.63; P = 0.0003; I2, 2%), stride length (SMD, 0.43; 95% CI 0.15–0.71; P = 0.003; I2, 7%), Timed up-and-go test (SMD, − 0.30; 95% CI − 0.54 to − 0.07; P = 0.01; I2, 0%), functional ambulation category (FAC) score (SMD, 1.61; 95% CI 1.19–2.02; P < 0.00001; I2, 0%), ankle sagittal plane angle at initial contact (SMD, 0.66; 95% CI 0.34–0.98; P < 0.0001; I2, 0%), and knee sagittal plane angle at toe-off (SMD, 0.39; 95% CI 0.04–0.73; P = 0.03; I2, 46%) were observed when the patients wore AFOs. Stride time, body sway, and hip sagittal plane angle at toe-off were not significantly improved (p = 0.74, p = 0.07, p = 0.07, respectively). Among these results, the FAC score showed the most significant improvement, and stride time showed the lowest improvement. AFO improves walking speed, cadence, step length, and stride length, particularly in patients with stroke. AFO is considered beneficial in enhancing gait stability and ambulatory ability.


1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Crawford ◽  
M H Sandford ◽  
G T Gillespie

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3440 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1323-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen M Berends ◽  
Raymond van Ee ◽  
Casper J Erkelens

It has been well established that vertical disparity is involved in perception of the three-dimensional layout of a visual scene. The goal of this paper was to examine whether vertical disparities can alter perceived direction. We dissociated the common relationship between vertical disparity and the stimulus direction by applying a vertical magnification to the image presented to one eye. We used a staircase paradigm to measure whether perceived straight-ahead depended on the amount of vertical magnification in the stimulus. Subjects judged whether a test dot was flashed to either the left or the right side of straight-ahead. We found that perceived straight-ahead did indeed depend on the amount of vertical magnification but only after subjects adapted (for 5 min) to vertical scale (and only in five out of nine subjects). We argue that vertical disparity is a factor in the calibration of the relationship between eye-position signals and perceived direction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Purcell ◽  
Michelle Mackenzie ◽  
Thiago G. Barbosa-Silva ◽  
Isabelle J. Dionne ◽  
Sunita Ghosh ◽  
...  

Sarcopenic obesity is associated with several negative health outcomes. However, the prevalence of this condition – and the relationship to physical performance parameters – varies across definitions. The aim of this cross-sectional investigation was to describe the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity using different published definitions and their relationship with handgrip strength and walking speed in older Canadian adults. Individuals aged 65+ in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (n = 11,803; 49.6% male, 50.4% female) were included. Body composition was measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry. Sarcopenic obesity was defined using 29 definitions. Low handgrip strength was identified as &lt; 27 kg in males and &lt; 16 kg in females and poor physical performance was defined as gait speed ≤ 0.8 m/s. The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity ranged from 0.1 to 85.3% in males, and from 0 to 80.4% in females. Sarcopenic obesity was frequently associated with low handgrip strength (p &lt; 0.05) in both males (14/17 definitions, 82.4%) and females (21/29 definitions, 72.4%). In very few definitions, sarcopenic obesity was associated with slow gait speed (males: 1/17 definitions [6.7%]; females: 2/29 [6.9%]). In conclusion, the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity varied greatly according to definitions and sarcopenic obesity was frequently associated with low handgrip strength.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanna M. M. McKnight

In amplifying the contours of the body, the corset is an historical site that fashions femininity even as it constricts women’s bodies. This study sits at the intersection of three histories: of commodity consumption, of labour, and of embodiment and subjectivity, arguing that women were active participants in the making, selling, purchasing and wearing of corsets in Toronto, a city that has largely been ignored in fashion history. Between 1871 and 1914 many women worked in large urban factories, and in small, independent manufacturing shops. Toronto’s corset manufacturers were instrumental in the urbanization of Canadian industry, and created employment in which women earned a wage. The women who bought their wares were consumers making informed purchases, enacting agency in consumption and aesthetics; by choosing the style or size of a corset, female consumers were able to control to varying degrees, the shape of their bodies. As a staple in the wardrobe of most nineteenth-century women, the corset complicates the study of conspicuous consumption, as it was a garment that was not meant to be seen, but created a highly visible shape, blurring the lines between private and public viewing of the female body. Marxist analysis of the commodity fetish informs this study, and by acknowledging the ways in which the corset became a fetishized object itself, both signaling the shapeliness of femininity while in fact augmenting and diminishing female bodies. This study will address critical theory regarding the gaze and subjectivity, fashion, and modernity, exploring the relationship women had with corsets through media and advertising. A material culture analysis of extant corsets helps understand how corsets were constructed in Toronto, how the women of Toronto wore them, and to what extent they actually shaped their bodies. Ultimately, it is the aim of this dissertation to eschew common misconceptions about the practice of corsetry and showcase the hidden manner in which women produced goods, labour, and their own bodies in the nineteenth century, within the Canadian context.


Author(s):  
Nina Boyd ◽  
Jan Smitheram

This project examines the relationship between architecture and the tourist experience. In architecture, an understanding of the active tourist body is underdeveloped as visuality is often positioned as the dominant mode of analysing tourism. This project mobilizes the tourist by recognising a paradigmatic shift from the”‘gaze” towards “performance”, which privileges the multisensuous experiences of the tourist engaged with architecture. The project investigates how architecture can stage and amplify the performances of tourists in order to produce place, en route. To test this enquiry, a “design through research” methodology is employed where the design proposition is developed through iterative design experiments. The design proposition is explored across three increasing scales, progressing the research through stages of development and refinement. The first experiment engages with the human scale through a 1:1 installation. The next experiment amplifies the practices of performing tourism through the design of a hotel. In the final experiment, the design of an artificial island stages the public performances of tourists.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document