Special Seminar and Speaker Q&A
Factors that Influence Collision Perception and Implications for Transportation Safety

December 8, 2016

About the Event

This special event, held in partnership with the U of M's College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Scientists from Underrepresented Groups Speaker Series, included a research presentation and Q&A with guest speaker Patricia DeLucia.

DeLucia's presentation highlighted results from a study on how people perceive collisions, including the findings' practical implications for transportation safety. Multiple sources of information are available to support people's judgments about collisions, and one would expect people to use reliable visual information. However, findings show that judgments about collisions and associated actions are influenced by less reliable information and non-visual factors, including depth cues such as relative size, cognitive processes, and affective content.

Following the presentation, DeLucia participated in a Q&A session focused on women's experiences in academia and transportation. 

Webcast

About the Speaker

Patricia DeLucia is a professor of psychological sciences, coordinator of the Human Factors Psychology Program, and associate vice president for research at Texas Tech University. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and Psychonomic Society. Dr. DeLucia was the 2015 recipient of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society’s Paul M. Fitts Education Award and the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Division 21’s  Franklin V. Taylor Award. She currently serves as editor in chief of the journal Human Factors.