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A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons (Columba Livia)
Published on: September 7, 2018
Inattentional blindness with the same scene at different scales
Henry L Apfelbaum1, Christina Gambacorta, Russell L Woods
1Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. henry.apfelbaum@Schepens.Harvard.edu
Summary
Augmented vision devices for low-vision rehabilitation use vision multiplexing but do not prevent inattentional blindness. However, detecting about half of unexpected events suggests potential utility for these vision aids.
Area of Science:
- Vision science
- Rehabilitation engineering
- Human-computer interaction
Background:
- Peripheral visual field restriction impairs safe mobility.
- Augmented vision devices for low-vision rehabilitation utilize vision multiplexing.
- Inattentional blindness may limit the effectiveness of these devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if contextual information in augmented vision aids mitigates inattentional blindness.
- To assess the impact of vision multiplexing on detecting unexpected events.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed two simultaneous, scaled views of the same scene.
- Unexpected events were embedded within the visual field.
- Detection rates of unexpected events were recorded.
Main Results:
- Contextual information from a related wide view did not mitigate inattentional blindness.
- Unexpected event detection rates were similar to studies using unrelated scenes.
- Approximately half of unexpected events were detected.
Conclusions:
- Vision multiplexing in augmented vision devices does not eliminate inattentional blindness.
- Despite inattentional blindness, these devices may still offer benefits for low-vision individuals.
- Further research is needed to optimize these vision aids.
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