Abstract
Despite their importance to research, there exist almost no experimental studies on the relationship between visual search (eye movement) and walking (head and body movement) in ‘way finding’. The current research aims at developing a method to analyze ‘way finding’ behavior and at revealing some characteristics of the coordination of eye and head/body movement.
In the experiment, subjects wore an eye camera and walked two or three times through a maze from a starting point to a goal until the entire path was learned. Subsequently, the subjects were asked to make sketch drawings, and an image map of the maze from memory. Complex data, such as distribution of fixation points, fixation duration, sight distance and pedestrians' head/body movement patterns were systematically analyzed. Through this developed method, several characteristics of coordinative eye and pedestrian movement in ‘way finding’ were revealed. The relationship between visual search and recalled drawing of the path was also discussed.
