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Jianshu Wang
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Responding to visual cues during whole-body motion

What shapes people’s responses to visual cues during whole-body motion?

Manuscript submitted

Institution
Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences

I developed the Unity/C# directional-judgment task on an existing six-degree-of-freedom motion platform and analyzed response times in relation to independently measured motion.

Five-second demonstration of the motion platform and directional task, with the seat unoccupied.

Responding in a moving environment

In a moving vehicle, people still need to interpret visual cues and act on them. We used a simple directional task to study response speed and accuracy under different motion conditions.

Participant on the existing motion platform facing three displays. The original face covering and complete platform base are visible.Opens in a new tab.
Study setup with a seated participant.
The actual task display shows an upward green arrow; a four-direction keypad sits beside it.Opens in a new tab.
Task display and directional keys.
  1. 1 · Fixation
  2. 2 · Directional cueIllustration of an index finger pressing the upward key of a four-direction keypad.Response during the cue
  3. 3 · Blank interval
Illustrated directional task: participants matched a visual arrow to a directional key.

Motion relative to the task

I considered both motion intensity and the direction of movement relative to the current cue. The same acceleration can lie along one target direction and across another.

Two motion sensors mounted beneath the participant's seat.Opens in a new tab.
Sensors beneath the seat recorded physical motion.
A cue-relative reference frameAn upward cue defines the along-cue direction. The across-cue direction is perpendicular. An illustrative diagonal motion vector has components in both directions.
  • Along cue
  • Across cue
  • Motion
Example task-relative reference frame.
Why target direction matters

Target direction defines both the motion reference frame and the response required by the task. I accounted for differences between target directions when interpreting the relationship between measured motion and response time.

Whole-body motion research overview

Further study details and results will be added after publication.