Yes / Trips over obstacles are one of the main causes of falling in older adults, with vision playing an important role in successful obstacle negotiation. We determined whether a horizontal-vertical illusion, superimposed onto low-height obstacles to create a perceived increase in obstacle height, increased foot clearances during obstacle negotiation thus reducing the likelihood of tripping. Eleven adults (mean ± 1 SD: age 27.3 ± 5.1 years) negotiated obstacles of varying heights (3, 5, 7 cm) with four different appearance conditions; two were obstacles with a horizontal-vertical illusion (vertical stripes of different thickness) superimposed on the front, one was a plain obstacle and the fourth a plain obstacle with a horizontal black line painted on the top edge. Foot clearance parameters were compared across conditions. Both illusions led to a significant increase in foot clearance when crossing the obstacle, compared to the plain condition, irrespective of obstacle height. Superimposing a horizontal-vertical illusion onto low-height obstacles can increase foot clearance, and its use on the floor section of a double-glazing door frame for example may reduce the incidence of tripping in the home.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/8241 |
| Date | 17 November 2015 |
| Creators | Foster, Richard J., Buckley, John, Whitaker, David J., Elliott, David |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted manuscript |
| Rights | © 2015 Taylor & Francis. This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Ergonomics in 2015, available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00140139.2015.1105304, Unspecified |
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