INVESTIGATIONS OF MAN'S LINEAR ACCELERATION THRESHOLD

MAN'S SENSITIVITY TO LONGITUDINAL ACCELERATION HAS A DIRECT BEARING ON HIS PERFORMANCE. IF MAN CONTROLS ACCELERATION, HE IS ABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF VELOCITY. THE AIM OF THESE STUDIES IS TO CALCULATE THE LEVEL OF HIS SENSIVITY. MEAN ACCELERATION THRESEHOLDS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS ARE PRESENTED FOR 50 SUBJECTS. THREE SEPARATE STUDIES WERE CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES UPON THOSE THRESHOLDS: VELOCITY, ACCELERATION POLARITY, JERK RATE, AND PSYCHOPHYSICAL METHOD (METHOD OF ADJUSTMENT OR METHOD OF CONSTANT STIMULI). THESE INVESTIGATIONS WERE CONDUCTED ON THE HIGHWAY WHILE SUBJECTS WERE EITHER RIDING OR DRIVING AN INSTRUMENTED PASSENGER VEHICLE. THE MEAN ACCELERATION THRESHOLD, AS DERIVED WITH THE METHOD OF ADJUSTMENT, WAS FOUND TO LIE BETWEEN .01 AND 0.2 G FOR THE 50 SUBJECTS. THE MAGNITUDE AND RANGE OF THE ACCELERATION THRESHOLDS FOUND, INDICATE THAT MAN CAN SENSE THIS INFORMATION AT LEVELS WHICH ARE LOW ENOUGH TO BE OF VALUE IN CONTROLLING A MOTOR VEHICLE.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 36, 16 PP, 9 FIG, 4 TAB, 6 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Technical Aspects Road Safety

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Rockwell, T H
  • SNIDER, J N
  • Birkimer, J C
• Publication Date: 1968

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceleration (Mechanics); Human beings; Linearity; Perception; Velocity
• Old TRIS Terms: Thresholds (Perception)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220579
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 5 1970 12:00AM