THE INFLUENCE OF SENSORY PATTERN AND ALCOHOL ON VEHICULAR VELOCITY SENSING

AN INVESTIGATION IS DESCRIBED COMPARING THE ABILITY OF SUBJECTS TO JUDGE TRAVELLED VEHICULAR VELOCITY WITH AND WITHOUT ALCOHOL. AUDITORY AND VISUAL CUES TO TRAVELLED VELOCITY WERE PRESENTED ALONE AND IN COMBINATION. THE TIME THAT THESE CUES WERE OPERATIVE WAS VARIED FROM 1/4 TO 1 SECOND. THE VELOCITY FACTOR WAS HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT. VELOCITY ESTIMATES WERE COMPRESSED BY VELOCITY SEQUENCE. JUDGMENTS FOLLOWING LOW SPEEDS TENDED TO OVERESTIMATION, AND THOSE FOLLOWING HIGH SPEEDS TENDED TO UNDERESTIMATION. AUDITORY STIMULATION YIELDED THE MOST ACCURATE VELOCITY JUDGMENTS, AND VISUAL STIMULATION THE LEAST ACCURATE. REDUCED OBSERVATION TIME ACCENTUATES THE OVERESTIMATION OF LOW VELOCITIES AND THE UNDERESTIMATION OF HIGH VELOCITIES. THIS EFFECT OF TIME ON VELOCITY IS POTENTIATED BY ALCOHOL. BOTH REDUCED OBSERVATION TIME AND ALCOHOL LESSEN THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE JUDGMENT AND ITS PHYSICAL COUNTERPART OF BOTH ALCOHOL AND REDUCED OBSERVATION TIME INCREASE THE "GUESSING" THAT TAKES PLACE. UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL, WHEN BISENSORY INFORMATION IS PRESENTED A DEFINITE TREND APPEARS TO EVALUATE ONLY THE AUDITORY INPUT. THIS SELECTION OF THE AUDITORY INPUT FOR EVALUATION IS INTERPRETED AS A PRIMITIVIZATION OF THE SENSORY ATTENTION MECHANISM RATHER THAN THE EMPLOYMENT OF A STRATEGY. THESE FINDINGS HAVE IMPLICATIONS BOTH FOR UNDERSTANDING THE BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS INVOLVED AND FOR INJURY CONTROL. /HSRI/

• Corporate Authors:

  Public Health Service

  Injury Control Research Laboratory
  Providence, RI  United States 
• Authors:
  • Salvatore, S
• Publication Date: 1972

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 44 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohols; Detection and identification; Detectors; Hearings; Vehicular phase; Velocity; Visual perception
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224078
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 17 1973 12:00AM