Research ideas

[magnatom]

Some of you might know that I work with MRI scanners. Part of my work is using the MRI scanners to look at brain function, i.e. which parts of the brain are active during certain tasks etc. This is called functional MRI (fMRI). fMRI can do many things, some useful, some a complete waste of time! However, one thing that it can do is detect things that occur in the subconscious. For example it is possible to flash pictures up on a screen so fast that the subject does not remember seeing it, however, you can prove that they have seen it by looking at brain activity. Although this might not seem important, it is possible that seeing something subconciously can affect behavior and reactions (I'm not talking about subliminal messages as such!)

This has got me thinking. In other threads I have seen people talking about the speed of cyclists being underestimated, the effects of bright clothing on visibility etc. I'm beginning to wonder if, using fMRI we might be able to scientifically tease some of these things out and provide some scientific backing to what we perceive.

I often have the chance of setting up student projects where we can run this type of task on the scanner, so I am seriously starting to think about what I could investigate. Any (proper!) ideas?

For example one thing I think we could investigate is the utility of bright clothes at night. In some of the short videos that the subject in the scanner would see, there would be cyclists moving into the edge of vision. Some would wear dark clothing, and some would wear bright clothing. The subject would hit a button to say when they perceived the cyclist in their vision. Using the fMRI I could also investigate when they unconsciously perceived them (this might be important as although they might not know they have seen them, they might still act accordingly). This might be able to investigate the myth behind SMIDSY!

I'm at a very early stage in thinking about this, but I think fMRI could be a powerful tool in this area. Does anyone have any suggestions for similar scenarios that might be worth investigating (try and keep it sensible!)?

I hope this all make sense. I realise that not everyone is a brain imaging expert...

 

[LordoftheTeapot]

I don't do 'sensible' as you may of noticed.

 

[domtyler]

How about an investigation into the effects of heavy breathing on motorist/cyclist interactions?

 

[Melvil]

That's rather interesting...

Why not expand the choices of dress and conditions so:

Luminescent clothing in day / night / Country road / busy street
Normal 'street' clothing " " " "
Aposematic Clothing (I.E. warning stripes / spots / colours -you could have a lot of fun with that) " " " "
Lights in different configurations " " " "
Etc.

Sounds cool.

 

[magnatom]

That's rather interesting...

Why not expand the choices of dress and conditions so:

Luminescent clothing in day / night / Country road / busy street
Normal 'street' clothing " " " "
Aposematic Clothing (I.E. warning stripes / spots / colours -you could have a lot of fun with that) " " " "
Lights in different configurations " " " "
Etc.

Sounds cool.

Yup. What should and shouldn't be included is something I or the student would need to investigate, although the actually experiments have to be kept as simple as possible to keep the time down and to improve the statistics.

I've got some journal reading to do...!

The more I think of this, the more I am excited about it (sad!!). I could be doing work (which I quite enjoy) in another area I have an interest in, cycling road safety.

More thinking......

 

[Over The Hill]

When the rider is attractive and female I never fail to notice her.

The hurdle I cannot get over is how can you see a rider subconciously without also seeing them conciously?
Also the point of being seen on a bike is for the car driver to REACT to the fact that you are there so do I not want him to react conciously?


...thinks about it a bit.....

How about this- On a bend in the road the driver cannot see the bike around the corner. Put up a convex mirror on the corner and there will be a little image of the bike rider on the mirror. Not enough for the car driver to be distracted or to conciously think "i can see that around the corner" but will that be enough to get him to expect to see the bike and be ready to react to it?
Then do the same for junctions and overhead convex mirrors so people will see what is around them.

Can I have 10% of your grant if you use this

 

[Arch]

Perhaps too 'frivolous' in terms of wider general road safety, but there's the old recumbent/upright thing - anecdotally those of us with recumbents say that we are more 'noticed' than on uprights due to being 'odd'... And that's despite the logical iea that being low down makes us less visible.

Sounds interesting though, good luck!

ooh, afterthought - could you test the relative perception (or whatever the correct term is) of drivers who only drive, and drivers who also cycle? Like are drivers who also cycle (many of us for example) better at spotting peripheral or subliminal images because we're aware of their importance? I suppose you might have to get round issues of sampling and double-blind testing or something, in case the fact that someone was asked about being a cyclist made them aware that they needed to be more aware...

 

[Willow]

I was following a cyclist one night last week who had a flashing rear light. I encourage my boys to cycle with flashing ones in the day time (pardon the implications!) and whilst they don't cycle in the dark I use a constant beam in the dark. This preference is nothing more scientific than the fact that I find that easier to notice and drive behind others will undoubtedly have a different view.

Also I wonder whether the positioning makes any difference. I spotted a cyclist again last week with a rear light high on his rucksack and it actually was difficult to see him (we have no street lights and it was a tree canopied road). I thought his light was insufficient and was quite cricital however when I overtook him the front light was amazingly good so I am assuming his rear light was too but the positioning didn't help the visibility.

 

[Mr Pig]

I think it's a very good idea. Might even get you on the telly again! ;0)

 

[Wolf04]

Interesting idea but not sure it would work. In my experience during the classic SMIDSY the driver has actually seen you but chosen consiously or subconsiously to ignore you. This could be for many reasons, intolerance, low level road rage etc. Taking the subject out of the car and into a controlled lab environment and substituting real life for videos would in my opinion create a fundamental change in the subjects responses. Still interesting though.

 

[sheddy]

If you do get to carry out any testing, could you also investigate the effect of loud music on your 'driver'.
I seem to remember reading a report in New Scientist that loud music compromised periferal vision..........

 

[marinyork]

I'd like research done to see what level of rage there is in some motorists when they see a cyclist ahead. Trickier to do I suppose.

 

[Mr Pig]

I seem to remember a report that loud music compromised peripheral vision..

I certainly think it effects concentration big time.

 

[User169]

There was a piece on BBC breakfast TV a couple of weeks ago about TfL or TRL testing the effects of various factors on driver performance. This was all done using some kind of driving simulator.

They mentioned in passing that one of the factors looked at was drugs. Presumably then Tfl or TRL pays a few lucky swines to get off their faces and then go for a spin in a simulator.

 

[magnatom]

I'd like research done to see what level of rage there is in some motorists when they see a cyclist ahead. Trickier to do I suppose.

Actually, there could be something in that. The scanner subject could be placed in control of a computer generated car driving through an artificial environment. They could be told to that to complete the game they need to get to a certain point. A real monetary reward could be offered for completing the game. Along the way they would come across various obstacles including cyclists which would be designed to hinder their progress etc. We could then investigate anger responses (we know where in the brain this usually resides) in relation to the obstacles.

We could compare groups, i.e, people who have somehow been shown to have road rage issues, normal drivers and advanced drivers. We could compare the brain responses of the three groups. It might be that results from this might shed some light on the psychology of road rage. Hmmm. More thought required.....