Abstract
Consistence of speed estimations. Speed perception, using a vehicle, has been studied from a psychophisical point of view, taking into account diverse variables. Nonetheless, only in a few investigations, errors have been analysed from the individual consistence point of view of. In the present research the consistence of speed estimations has been investigated in four experimental conditions: vehicle on track, vehicle on open road, video on track, and video on open road. There were thirty-six participants, half males and half females, 24.36 and 2.06 years of mean and standard deviation, respectively. Task consisted in estimating speed in a range from 40 to 120 kph or 140 kph. on the highway and closed track, respectively. Results have been analysed from the perspective of the individual ability, studying the covariation of estimation errors. Linear correlations intra experimental condition were high, ranging from .83 to .88, but correlations inter experimental conditions ranged from .21 to .52. On the other hand, for each pair of speeds in one experimental condition, the nearer speeds, the higher the correlation. These results indicate that subjects behaved as consistent estimators when they estimated speed in the same experimental paradigm, but this ability was not generalised into another experimental paradigm. We make the hypothesis that speed perception would be related to the gestalt compounded by a set of aspects in each scene, and that subjects would estimate in the same way (infra-estimating or over-estimating) those speeds with similar pattern of scenic attributes.
