Intend-Wait-Perceive-Cross: Exploring the Effects of Perceptual Limitations on Pedestrian Decision-Making

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new pedestrian behavior model that explicitly incorporates perceptual limitations like restricted field of view and memory, revealing their significant impact on crossing decisions.

Contribution

It presents the Intend-Wait-Perceive-Cross model with novel perceptual elements, advancing understanding of how visual constraints influence pedestrian decision-making.

Findings

Perceptual limitations affect crossing safety decisions.

Modeling visual constraints improves pedestrian behavior predictions.

Scanning strategies influence decision outcomes.

Abstract

Current research on pedestrian behavior understanding focuses on the dynamics of pedestrians and makes strong assumptions about their perceptual abilities. For instance, it is often presumed that pedestrians have omnidirectional view of the scene around them. In practice, human visual system has a number of limitations, such as restricted field of view (FoV) and range of sensing, which consequently affect decision-making and overall behavior of the pedestrians. By including explicit modeling of pedestrian perception, we can better understand its effect on their decision-making. To this end, we propose an agent-based pedestrian behavior model Intend-Wait-Perceive-Cross with three novel elements: field of vision, working memory, and scanning strategy, all motivated by findings from behavioral literature. Through extensive experimentation we investigate the effects of perceptual limitations on safe crossing decisions and demonstrate how they contribute to detectable changes in pedestrian behaviors.