GENDER DIFFERENCES WHILE PERFORMING AN EVERYDAY PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR TASK

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The aim of this paper was to study gender differences regarding their perceptual judgment and movement behavior in the road crossing task. Methodology: A simulated road crossing environment outside the Human Motor Behavior laboratory (HMBL) was used to examine the individuals’ perceptual-motor behavior. Twenty-four young adults performed the road crossing task in the virtual environment judging whether the available gap was crossable or not crossable and then initiating movement depending on the perceptual information. Main Findings: Participants’ gap selection revealed that their cross-ability was influenced by vehicle speed, however, female participants made more errors relative to males. In addition, females took longer to cross and made unnecessary adjustments during crossings. The study findings suggest that females’ erroneous perceptual decisions and inconsistent locomotion behavior in road-crossing put them at higher risk relative to their male counterparts. Application of this study: The findings of this study may apply to developing training programs regarding pedestrian individuals. Training with performing road-crossing tasks may prove to be helpful for refining individuals’ perceptual judgment and movement behavior to minimize chances of accidents in road crossing. Specifically, having experience with the road-crossing task in a virtual environment may reduce the tendency towards risk-taking behavior. The novelty of this study: Most of the past research regarding pedestrian individuals’ road crossing behavior examined participants’ perceptual judgment (perception) in standing position only or did not analyze movement behavior in the actual walking set up. The approach utilized in our experiment was novel in this regard; individuals can choose to cross a gap and walk wearing a head-mounted display.