Spontaneous behavioral coordination between avoiding pedestrians requires mutual anticipation rather than mutual gaze

ABSTRACT: Summary Pedestrians threading through a crowd is a striking example of coordinated actions. Mutual anticipation between pedestrians is a candidate mechanism underlying such coordination. To examine this possibility, we experimentally intervened pairs of pedestrians performing simple avoidance tasks. Pedestrians in the baseline condition spontaneously coordinated their walking speed and angle until passing one another. Visually distracting one of the pedestrians decreased the level of behavioral coordination. Importantly, blocking the pedestrians’ gaze information alone did not alter their walking. These results indicate that spontaneous coordination requires mutual anticipation. Eye movement analysis showed that the direction of a pedestrian’s gaze changed depending on the uncertainty of t

SUBMITTER: Murakami H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9684055 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature