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news
The uniformity illusion: peripheral vision study may help explain why drivers fail to see cyclists
A new study published in Psychological Science demonstrates that we aren’t always seeing what we think we are with our peripheral vision. Researchers exploring the so-called uniformity illusion found that detailed peripheral visual experience is partially based on a reconstruction of reality.
Vision at the centre of the visual field (in the fovea) is much more accurate and detailed than vision in the periphery. This is as you’d imagine, but it seems our peripheral vision still isn’t quite as detailed as we think it is.
“Perhaps our brain fills in what we see when the physical stimulus is not rich enough,” the University of Amsterdam’s Marte Otten told Psychological Science. “The brain represents peripheral vision with less detail, and these representations degrade faster than central vision. Therefore, we expected that peripheral vision should be very susceptible to illusory visual experiences, for many stimuli and large parts of the visual field.”
The researchers asked participants to focus on the centre of a visual display in which the central stimuli differed slightly from what was surrounding it. Over time, participants perceived that the peripheral stimuli changed to match the central stimuli, resulting in a uniform pattern. You can get get a sense of this via the various examples found at uniformillusion.com.
The study found that a wide range of visual features, including shape, orientation, motion, luminance, pattern, and identity, are all susceptible to this illusion.
The researchers argue that it is the result of a reconstruction of sparse visual information based on the more readily available at the centre of your vision.
The ramifications for cyclists are fairly obvious – but how common is this phenomenon?
“Our findings show that, under the right circumstances, a large part of the periphery may become a visual illusion,” said Otten. “This effect seems to hold for many basic visual features, indicating that this ‘filling in’ is a general, and fundamental, perceptual mechanism.”
In 2013 we reported on an eye-tracking experiment which found that more than one in five cyclists go unseen by motorists.
To give a more specific example, last month a motorist captured horrific footage of a cyclist being hit at a mini-roundabout in South London. The driver involved approached the junction without slowing down and, based on the video, almost certainly didn’t see the rider before hitting them.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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30 comments
Well thats a minute and 40seconds of my life I won't get back; stupidly I kept on waiting for that dancing gorilla or something similar
Surely the conclusion of this is that cyclists should take the lane at every opportunity, and cycle lanes should not be off at the edge of the road?
And secondly that driving is just inherently dangerous because humans aren't wired to have the abilities required to do it safely? Hence cars should be kept away from vulnerable road-users.
We are not hexagons or pentagons. We are human beings and we are the most human being shaped object out there on the roads, vehicle wise. Human beings have been seeing other human beings since human beings became human beings. It's not a recent development. Some of us may change out shape somewhat with our wearing of hats (each to their own) but we are still recognisably human being shaped, unlike the boxy cars, trucks, lorries and buses, which have no major history in our evolutionary development. I know we are programmed to see faces, man on the moon, face on Mars, various illusions and all that. So it cannot be too much of a stretch for us to be quite good at seeing people shaped objects. So why are they not seeing us. For me they are not looking, we are not meant to depend on our peripheral vision, we are meant to use the centre of our vision, anything else is not paying due care and attention. We move our eyes and our heads, we twist our knecks and our shoulders and even our whole bodies. But we ride bicycles. The modern automobile is set far apart from the environment, it is too comfortable, it's driver cannot feel the road, cannot smell or hear the world about them. It's not really about us making ourselves more noticable, though I myself try very hard and I don't think I can do much more, it's about the operators of the big heavy vehicles putting in some effort into looking, because only then will they have a chance of seeing.
The shapes on the edge are not hexagons but when you focus on the centre the whole sheet looks like nothing but hexagons. The periphery looks the same as the centre, but you have to focus on the centre which implies that drivers can't see cyclists to the side because their brain is filling the peripheral vision with the empty road in front. The answer is simple, f***ng look around you or use your mirrors!!!
Can't see any change. I suppose if I stared rigidly at the middle things would get fluffy around the edge - but with my eyes flicking in an arch across 100° of the 180° as I would driving I'm getting no strange visions.
I would suggest that speed ( as ever) is the main factor as no driver, however dim, stares at one spot for more than a second so the peripheral problem described here is a pretty tenuous explanation.
Peripherally checking texts on my phone as well as my sat nav at the same time might not be helpful but as I pay road tax I should be allowed to drive as I like...
Well golly gosh.
I suppose you could try changing basic human perception evolved over millions of years, and there are certainly ways of achieving that if the principles are understood. Or you could require vehicles to incorporate driver aids that mitigate those human deficiencies. Again possible with modern technologies.
In the meantime surely the most practical, easiest, cost effective, immediately available and personally beneficial take home message from this kind of research is.
Make yourself conspicuous in the environment.
Good advice. Doesn't get around the problem that human sized - er - humans riding big mechanical dandy horses, lit up like Xmas trees and dressed up as highlighter pens, can still apparently be completely invisible to other road users.
So what's Plan B?
It doesn't matter how conspicuous you are if they aren't looking.
Interesting point... I sometimes think that wearing an orange (or green, or pink...) hi-vis jacket would make other road users notice me more than wearing a yellow one, simply because they're more unusual colours in that context.
We really needed a study to tell us that drivers who don't look don't see us?
No shit sherlock. I'm pretty sure anyone on this forum or any bike rider anywhere could have told them that without the need for a formal study.
Yeah, but now it's science! Every time we get close passed we can point the driver at a peer reviewed research paper showing them the error of their ways.
i got close-passed by a motorist who said that she couldn't see me. When I pointed out the fa t that I had THREE flashing lights pointing back at her, she followed up with "you shouldn't be on the road, you don't pay any road tax".
at which point I realised that I was wasting my breath, so I told her to fuck off.
Now we'll hear the solicitors for the defendant saying "science has shown it wasn't Mr Jones' fault, it was his peripheral vision"
I liked the bit at the end where she took her top off.
I had to disable adblock before I could see that bit
what these studies always seem to overlook, maybe its something lost in their peripheral vision..., is that its not that people look and dont see you, they just dont bother to look at all.
I can barely see this video in my periphial vission when I am looking at my mobile phone.
I worked in defect reduction for 16 years (HVM micro manufacture) looking at thousands of images (each day) in the nano/micro metre scales using optical/SEM tools in both brightfield and darkfield scatter...so that image is very recognisable as containing many different geometric shapes/orientations.
But I'd presume that many people looking at the image for going on 2 minutes would start to see total uniformity (ie no difference in shapes etc, especially at the periphery).
(my) Eyes are tuned in to seeing the 'unexpected'...which I guess is the opposite of what is being conveyed here...people are 'expecting' to see nothing, therefore the brain does not react accordingly when presented with the 'unexpected'...detuned, dropped off...drones...
I'm more of a pentagon man myself, TBH
I stand in awe of your stamina sir. I'm exhausted after a threesome.
So... take the lane.
Yes indeed: grab the fucking lane, soldiers! Science!
This http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/ and the links from it.
So the lesson for drivers is pretty clear - pay some fucking attention!
Is this one of those when the guy in the gorilla suit walks through?
No, but if you watch it backwards you can see the words "Always wear a helmet" materialize.
What is that video supposed to demonstrate? Is the pattern supposed to change over the course of the 1:340? Reading the text after "watching" it, that would seem to be the case – but it certainly didn't for me. Perhaps this is the point? It did actually change but I didn't notice? The article doesn't really make sense of the vid (or vice versa?)
You didn't see the bit at 1'05"?
OMG!! I loved that bit...watched it over and over
That has to be the most exciting video I've ever seen, far too short for my liking.