Models for pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour analysis at unprotected mid-block crosswalks under mixed traffic conditions

Pedestrian safety is an important aspect while crossing the road and it can be explained by pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour. The statistical models such as multiple linear regression (MLR) is often used to model linear relationships between dependent variable (viz., pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour) and independent variables, due to their ability to quantitatively predict the effect of various factors on the dependent variable. However such linear models cannot consider the effect of several variables on the output variable, due to primary assumptions of normality, linear, homoscedasticity and multicollinearity. In this regard, the non-linear models based on the artificial neural network (ANN), which are free from assumptions of linear models, can be easily employed for obtaining the effect of several input variables on the pedestrian accepted gap size. However, researchers have rarely applied ANN modelling technique for predicting the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour, as the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour depends on several pedestrian, traffic and vehicular characteristics. The ANN based models would be quite useful in establishing relationship between these factors on the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour at midblock crosswalks under mixed traffic conditions. In this direction, the present study adopts both MLR as well as ANN with different pedestrian, traffic and vehicular characteristics to assess the significant contributing factors for pedestrians’ gap acceptance behaviour at unprotected mid-block crosswalks under mixed traffic conditions. For this purpose, a video graphic survey was conducted at a six lane divided road at unprotected mid-block crossing in Mumbai, India. The data such as pedestrian (gender and age), vehicular, traffic and pedestrian behavioural characteristics were extracted to model pedestrian accepted gaps. The model results show that pedestrian rolling behaviour has a significant effect on pedestrian accepted gap size. The model results concluded that ANN has a better prediction with possibility to consider the effect of more number of variables on the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour as compared to the MLR model under mixed traffic conditions. However, the quantification of significant contributing variables on pedestrian accepted gap size is easy by MLR model as compared to the ANN technique. So, both models have their own significant role in pedestrian gap acceptance analysis. The developed models may be useful to enhance the existing mid-block crosswalk facilities or planning new facilities by more accurate prediction of the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour considering the influence of various factors under mixed traffic conditions.     

Retrieval of bindings between task-irrelevant stimuli and responses can facilitate behaviour under conditions of high response certainty

Repetition priming can be driven by the encoding and retrieval of stimulus–response (S–R) bindings. When a previously encoded S–R binding is retrieved, and is congruent with the response currently required, it can bias response-selection processes towards selecting the retrieved response, resulting in facilitation. Previous studies have used classification tasks at retrieval. Here, two (or more) response options are competing, and it is likely that any evidence (e.g., an S–R binding) in favour of one option will be utilized to effect a decision. Thus, S–R effects are likely to be seen when using such a task. It is unclear whether such effects can be seen under conditions of higher response certainty, when participants are explicitly cued to make a response. Across two experiments, evidence for a modulating influence of S–R bindings is seen despite using a response cueing method at retrieval to minimize response uncertainty and despite stimuli being task irrelevant. Finally, the results suggest that responses within these S–R bindings are coded at the level of left versus right hand, and not a more fine-grained within-hand thumb versus index finger. The results underline the resilience of S–R effects, suggesting that they are present even under conditions where no explicit object-oriented decision is required.     

Human gaze behaviour during action execution and observation

Gaze shifts and fixations appear to be proactive in both action execution and observation. We investigated a dependency of anticipatory gaze behaviour by using a block stacking task. Blocks were rectangles depicted on a computer screen and the stacking movements were controlled via computer mouse. Subjects either had to execute the task or had to observe it made by the experimenter, or by the computer. The dependency of gaze behaviour on the visibility of a virtual effector, the visibility of the actor, and the nature of the actor was tested by measuring eye movements. Anticipatory eye movements were predominant when the subjects themselves executed the task. During action observation, gaze behaviour did neither depend on the visibility nor depend on the nature of the actor. However, big variability was found between the subjects suggesting the use of two different strategies in action observation: some subjects were mainly tracking the blocks during stacking movements; others were strongly anticipating. We suggest that gaze behaviour during action observation is not predetermined by rigid neural circuitry, but strongly depends on the context. The possibility to explain the causal mechanism, as well as the ownership of the action may be crucial preconditions for anticipatory gaze behaviour.     

Health-related behaviour and personality trait development in adulthood

This investigation explored the contribution of a healthy lifestyle to personality trait stability and change during adulthood. A nationally representative sample of 11,133 Australian adults completed self-report measures of health-related behaviour and personality traits at baseline (2010) and again four years later (2014). Results showed that physical activity and alcohol intake, and to a lesser extent diet and cigarette smoking, were important for mean-level change and intra-individual stability of personality for all trait dimensions. Moreover, positive health behaviours were associated with less of a decrease in extraversion and more of an increase in openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness over four years.These findings suggest that healthy living might help to facilitate desirable personality trait stability and change during adulthood.     

Social cognition and the development of rule-guided behaviour

The weak to modest relationship between cognitive measures of judgement and reasoning and children's behaviour has led to a search for more satisfactory predictors of behaviour. One proposal is to integrate cognitive-developmental theory with children's perceptions of the self and others. In this regard, cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence indicates that children's “identification” as expressed by self-reports of parents' attractiveness and similarity to the self is correlated with their rule-guided behaviour. These relationships reflect the effects of sex-typing. In a study of behaviour in a naturalistic setting, Grade 1 girls' identification with the mother was correlated with a resistance to others' ruleviolations in Grade 2. Boys' self-initiated violations in Grade 2 were correlated with father identification in Grade 3. Given that behaviour can be mediated by perceptions of parents in relation to the self, and that effective socialization may reflect perceptions of control and a willingness to obey, a study of children's evaluations of maternal discipline techniques is reported. Findings were that children of all ages prefer an authoritative parent who displays firmness and flexibility in dealing with the situation at hand. The implications for theories of social development are discussed. Bidirectional influences in parent-child relations are considered as well as age-related changes in the connection between behaviour and sources of perceived control. Processes by which perceptions of control form a basis for autonomy and responsibility are examined.     

Conspicuous donation behaviour: scale development and validation

• This paper builds on the concept of conspicuous donation behaviour (CDB) through further conceptualisation and operationalisation of this construct. The paper reports on developing the CDB scale via a three‐stage process, which includes five data collections using a total of 1311 respondents. The data analysis indicates that the resulting eight‐item (two factor) CDB scale has face, content, convergent, discriminant and predictive validity and the CDB scale is reliable across samples. The CDB scale has the potential for significant usage in the development and testing of theory, as well as in practical applications.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基因与人性:影响人性的若干基因

人类行为既受到遗传因素的影响,同时也受到环境(文化)因素的影响。近年来逐渐引起众多学科领域关注的行为遗传学研究从行为的基因关联出发,系统研究了行为的遗传因素及其基因基础,取得了令人瞩目的成绩。该文系统总结了八种人类重要行为的基因基础及其与环境因素的关系,并从基因与人性的关系角度进行了讨论。     

Extent-of-motion thresholds under subject-relative and object-relative conditions

The experiment was designed to discover the threshold extent of motion at medium speeds amounting to 41, 82, and 164 min./sec., and to compare the perception of motion arising from subject-relative displacement with the perception of motion arising from object-relative displacement. Extent thresholds were found while velocity was kept constant. Different groups of ten Ss were used for each displacement velocity, and for each S the extent threshold was twice obtained by the method of constant stimuli, once under subjectrelative and once under object-relative displacement conditions. Sensitivity to brief displacements of a continuously visible target was high; average thresholds ranged from 1.0 to 4.4 min. under the various conditions employed. The thresholds were higher for subject-relative conditions and the slower displacement velocities and lower for objectrelative conditions and faster displacements.     

Dorsal and ventral processing under dual-task conditions

It is widely acknowledged that visual input is processed along two anatomically and functionally distinct pathways--a ventral pathway for conscious perception and a dorsal pathway for action control. The present study investigated whether the apparent direct and unmediated processing in the dorsal stream is subject to capacity limitations. Specifically, we tested whether a simple dorsal task of grasping an object is affected by the psychological refractory period (PRP), a well-known indication of capacity limitations. Subjects performed an auditory choice reaction task and then, following varying delays, had to judge an object's width (ventral task) or grasp an object across its width (dorsal task). Although these tasks were differentially affected by irrelevant variation of the objects' length, they were subject to comparable dual-task interference. These results show that despite important differences between ventral and dorsal information processing, both modes of processing are constrained by limited capacities.     

Pedestrian jaywalking under facilitating and nonfacilitating conditions

Each year, thousands of pedestrians are killed or injured while crossing streets in the United States. Pedestrians who jaywalk across busy intersections increase their risk of being injured by an automobile. The present series of studies investigated pedestrian jaywalking behaviors under temporal conditions which appeared to control noncompliance and compliance with pedestrian walk signs. An intersection involving three major streets was the target site of the studies. The timing of walk and no-walk light sequences was different in the clockwise and counterclockwise direction and produced differential delays. In three separate studies, significantly more pedestrians jaywalked when walking in the long-delay as opposed to short-delay direction. Traffic planners might use these findings to establish safer pedestrian signal systems.     

Stuttering adaptation under distributed and massed conditions

An identical-subject-repeated-measures design, involving two counterbalanced conditions, was employed to investigate adaptation when the presentation of a 100-word list is distributed and when it is massed. In Condition I, the entire list was read aloud during each of five successive trials. Since a specific word reoccurred only after all of the others were displayed, the presentation may be said to be distributed. In contrast, the Condition II presentation was massed. Only after a word was read five times was the next one presented. The results indicate that significant adaptation occurred in both conditions. However, adaptation plateaued in the distributed condition. This was not the case when massing was employed. The among-condition analyses revealed that significantly more adaptation occurred in the massed than in the distributed condition.     

Extent-of-motion thresholds under subject-relative and object-relative conditions

The experiment was designed to discover the threshold extent of motion at medium speeds amounting to 41, 82, and 164 min./sec., and to compare the perception of motion arising from subject-relative displacement with the perception of motion arising from object-relative displacement. Extent thresholds were found while velocity was kept constant. Different groups of ten Ss were used for each displacement velocity, and for each S the extent threshold was twice obtained by the method of constant stimuli, once under subjectrelative and once under object-relative displacement conditions. Sensitivity to brief displacements of a continuously visible target was high; average thresholds ranged from 1.0 to 4.4 min. under the various conditions employed. The thresholds were higher for subject-relative conditions and the slower displacement velocities and lower for objectrelative conditions and faster displacements.     

Adult-child interaction under dyadic and polyadic conditions

The nature of adult-child interaction was examined under two conditions: dyadic (adult with one child) and polyadic (adult with four children). The subjects were staff and children in day nurseries, who were observed in a specially set-up task situation. In certain respects the interaction assumed different forms depending on group condition. The effects may be seen in stylistic differences in the adults' behaviour: thus in polyads individual children had not only less speech directed to them but also speech that tended to be more directive and prohibitive. While the total number of bids the adults received from children in polyads was considerably greater than in dyads, the increase was a selective one, referring only to requests for help and not to less urgent demands. The main strategy adopted by adults to cope with the increase in demand was by ignoring, the incidence of which was very much greater under polyadic than under dyadic conditions. Joint involvement of adult and child was also much reduced in the former setting. The implications of these findings for children reared under group care conditions are discussed, and attention is drawn to the importance of situational factors in determining caretaker responsiveness.     

Shape-slant relations under reduction conditions

Two experiments are reported which attempted to test implications of the shape-slant invariance hypothesis. Both experiments employed an apparatus in which variations in the slant and in the width settings of a rectangle were highly ambiguous and subject to instructional sets. In the first experiment, the stimulus was varied in both its width and its slant to achieve matches to four standard angles; the resultant width settings were found to be close to the projected widths of the obtained angles of slant. In the second experiment, width and slant were varied to match four standard widths; the projected widths of the obtained angles of slant did not differ from the obtained width settings.