Relationship between Gazing Characteristics and Conflict in Overtaking Selection Toward Pedestrian Ahead

This study investigates how the walking speed of a pedestrian ahead and aisle width influence conflict and gaze behavior during overtaking selection. The experiment employed a virtual environment with a head-mounted display (MetaQuest Pro/Meta) and an omnidirectional treadmill (Virtualizer Elite 2/Cyberith GmbH). The experiment involved 13 university students, who walked through three types of spaces in sequence: “Training Space,” “Reference Speed Measuring Space,” and “Analysis Space.” The analysis space consisted of 9 conditions, defined by three speed ratios (the ratio of the pedestrian ahead's walking speed to the participant's reference speed: 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9) and three aisle widths (2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 m). During walking, torso rotation angles and Yaw angles of gaze were measured to calculate three analytical indices: “Overtaking Rate,” “Overtaking Selection Time,” and “Gazing Dispersion.”The analysis of the overtaking rate suggested that action selections were likely made based on the relative magnitudes of the following burden (attributed to the speed ratio) and the overtaking burden (attributed to the aisle width), which were anticipated during walking. For overtaking selection time, the results indicated that the influence of the following burden varied depending on aisle width, with narrower aisle widths likely causing greater conflict in overtaking selections. Furthermore, for gazing dispersion, the findings suggested that the equilibrium between the following burden and the overtaking burden could influence the distribution of gaze.These findings represent a novel contribution by demonstrating the potential to quantify conflict due to action selection through gaze analysis. Based on these results, seamless measurement of anticipated burdens during action selection may become feasible.