The effect of situational hazard level on pedestrian hazard perception: Evidence from event-related potentials.

The effect of situational hazardous level on pedestrian hazard perception was investigated using event-related potential (ERP) technique. Images of three types of real traffic situations were used as test materials, including non-hazard situations, low-hazard situations and high-hazard situations. The existence of hazard in situations shown in the images was determined by 29 students (including 16 female) via button pushing. The results showed that the N1 amplitude was higher in high-hazard situations than in non-hazard or low-hazard situations; and the P3 amplitude was higher in low-hazard situations than in non-hazard or high-hazard situations. These results indicated that the high-hazard situations have a processing advantage in early processing stages, while low-hazard situations have a processing advantage in late processing stages.