[supertinu]

Thanks to thread starter. And I thought that blind spots were only due to A pillars . In general during my driving I am quite used to looking around in the inside and outside RVM so that probably helps a bit in refreshing my brain memory. I developed this habit in US to spot a Highway Cruisers to avoid getting speeding tickets .

Originally Posted by noopster

On a longish drive recently, we were on the city stretch just a few km from home when I suddenly braked hard and swerved left to "avoid" a car and bike in the right lane. Then I realised that neither of them had threatened to cut into my lane at all. The missus was worried and asked, didn't you see them? I shook my head and mumbled an apology.

In retrospect it makes sense. I was tiring after the long drive and my eyes had been focused on the taillamps in front of me. The vehicles in the right lane suddenly 'appeared' after being invisible and that startled me.

Scary. Thanks for this very usefull article TK and AB. The dot test is very revealing.

I have had the exact same experience recently on one of the trips when a vehicle seemed to appear suddenly on the adjacent lane and I kind a panicked and swerved to avoid it when it really was not even shifting lanes. My wife was looking at me with that look.

[Masda]

Thank you throttleking!This sure is an eye opener, and a scary one. Have a feeling we may be more prone to it on highways (read long drives), especially ones where the scenery/surroundings do not change much. Perhaps when you are driving in a straight line for several minutes, at constant speed, in seemingly well behaved traffic?

I'd especially watch out for those long straights from now on. Thanks for sharing.

[devansn]

Great Thread! Thanks for posting...

I always look at the rear view mirror occasionally - at least once in a minute or two - however fast I am driving. This is a habit I inculcated while preparing for California drivers license road test. But somehow I have not yet been able to convince myself and others about why one should do this - I have a good reason now. Thanks again!

So if one is driving in the night, looking at the road continuously, there is a great chance that you may not notice the headlight of a vehicle that is behind you... Please correct me if I am wrong. To put it in other words, in order to be aware of what is happening behind, the only way is to literally look at the rear view mirrors, especially if you are driving fast...

From the experiment, I think it is the yellow dot on the left side that is disappearing first and more frequently. Is this same for others?

[Surprise]

Is there a possibility that we will have our eyes just pointed at one place similar to that green dot? You just blink your eyes at regular interval & see those yellow dots just lying there.

Nice share...its an easy exercise to understand a very good concept

[ashphil]

Thank you for this information. I have been thru several situations where I was left wondering where on eath did this guy spring from. I now understand the reson why this happens. Never heard of motion induced blindness before. I will ensure that this information is passed on to all the drivers whom I know.
Regards,
Ashok

[racerme?]

Excellent post! One more reason why this is Definitive Indian Car Community.

I intially didn't believe the yellow dots disappearing and somehow thought they were programmed to disappear.But NO!

[fuel_addict]

Very informative article. Thanks for sharing throttleking. The yellow dots experiment is eerily scary when translated to actual highway driving. Lesson learnt - look around and do not fix your eyes on a single object. We are living a country of idiots as such.

[neel385]

Originally Posted by throttleking

In a motor accident, wherein a speeding car hits a slower moving vehicle coming from the side, the speeding car drivers often swear that they just didn’t see the vehicle coming from the left or right.

This phenomenon on the car drivers’ part is known as “Motion Induced Blindness”.

Certain clarifications need to be addressed. Firstly, the phenomenon of MIB had so far been proven in lab conditions only and that too in the study of consciousness, and attention with objective methods. Hence to attribute accidents to this would probably be jumping the gun.

Originally Posted by throttleking

Till about three decades ago, this “heads on swivel & eyes moving” technique was the only way to spot other aircraft in the skies around. Now-a-days they have on-board radars, but the old technique still holds good.

Incorrect co-relation. Fighter pilots are seen doing the “heads on swivel & eyes moving” thing because no sensor can ultimately be as good as the eye. A radar, RWR and MAWS can be spooked, but not the eyes. Further, you cannot fight the enemy you cannot see. So the endavour is to pick up the bandit at the earliest, and since he can appear from any quarter, hence the “heads on swivel & eyes moving.”


Fighter pilots(at least in India) have no exposure to any MIB training. In fact this is the first time I have heard of this! How ever, there is another phenomenon that we are aware of which can probably give a better explanation to the accidents being cited. It is called Empty Field Myopia.

If one focuses on an object for a prolonged period of time, the eye's focul point gets fixed to a point around 1mtr ahead and we loose the ability to differentiate between anything beyond this distance. This effect is most pronounced on our peripheral vision. It is for this reason that pilots and drivers for equal measure are best advised to continuously shift their focal point so as to prevent getting into empty field myopic conditions.

The following video gives a good idea of what Empty Field Myopia is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va3MuZcjwQk

[JEHU]

Thanks Throttleking. This experiment is an awesome depiction of a real life driving experience. Thanks for the tit bits on the training provided to the Pilots. Wish, the Driving School instructors too share the same with the future drivers. I have encountered this phenomenon many a time and it happens more so with Balck colored vehicles and my heart skips a beat when those vehicles get past me.Now I will be wary of this

[veyron_head]

Thanks for the great article!

I wanted to be doubly sure that the yellow dots test is not programmed to disappear . And I did make sure it's not.

I had my finger ready to press the 'Print screen' button on the keyboard, and just when I saw the dots disappear I did a print screen. I then pasted the image on MS Paint and saw that the dots were all there

Will sure remember this phenomenon the next time I take the wheel.

Thanks again.

[mandheers]

That's a great post, and it is true.

They have this test for the Air-Force pilots at the Armed Forces Central Medical Establishment, (AFCME) at Subroto Park in Delhi.

I trained for commercial, hence maybe never had to go through this. Any pilots here who have taken this would know.

Even in our case we were taught to alternate gaze between scanning the horizon and the instrument panel, left and right for other trainee aircraft/traffic.

But never imagined it would be true in our everyday scenario.

Thanks throttleking ad Antz.bin!!

[wanderernomad]

Another thing to beat this is to blink regularly and not let the gaze getting fixed. The best way to keep your peripheral vision is to blink regularly and glance into your orvms every 5 minutes or so before looking up ahead again.

[neel385]

Originally Posted by mandheers

They have this test for the Air-Force pilots at the Armed Forces Central Medical Establishment, (AFCME) at Subroto Park in Delhi.

Not true. The test you are referring to is for a different eye disorder(astigmatism if I am not wrong).

[mandheers]

Originally Posted by neel385

Not true. The test you are referring to is for a different eye disorder(astigmatism if I am not wrong).

Guess I stand corrected then, thanks!

[NG_EV]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Very interesting article, posted on FB by BHPian Antz.bin (Anant Bhatia), I thought it is very useful and hence sharing on the forum.

Motion Induced Blindness


MSF

The link now redirects to the home page of the website. A quick Google search brings up this gif.