Safety Strategies in Time-to-Contact Estimation
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Abstract
The ability to estimate the time remaining until collision occurs with an approaching object (time-to-collision, TTC) is crucial for any mobile animal. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there are safety strategies at work in TTC estimation either in the case of threatening stimulus content or in the case of impaired visual conditions. In thirteen Experiments, we compared TTC estimates of simulated objects (mostly pictures) that approached our participants on a screen and disappeared from view before a collision would have occurred. TTC of neutral pictures was usually overestimated whereas threatening pictures (e.g. frontal attacks, spiders) were judged to collide earlier in most cases. This effect was modulated by arousal and fear of spiders. The effects of impaired visual conditions were less conclusive. This study adds to the growing literature that shows how visual perception is influenced by context in its broadest sense, including the semantic meaning of a stimulus and emotional reactions in combination with individual traits of the observer.