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A new perspective on how humans assess their surroundings; derivation of head orientation and its role in ‘framing’ the environment

Gwendoline Wilson, Mark Holton Orcid Logo, James Walker, Mark Jones Orcid Logo, Ed Grundy, Ian Davies Orcid Logo, David Clarke, Adrian Luckman Orcid Logo, Nick Russill, Vianney Wilson, Rosie Plummer, Rory Wilson Orcid Logo

PeerJ, Volume: 3, Issue: e908, Pages: e908 - 29

Swansea University Authors: Gwendoline Wilson, Mark Holton Orcid Logo, Mark Jones Orcid Logo, Ian Davies Orcid Logo, David Clarke, Adrian Luckman Orcid Logo, Vianney Wilson, Rory Wilson Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.7717/peerj.908

Abstract

Understanding the way humans inform themselves about their environment is pivotal in helping explain our susceptibility to stimuli and how this modulates behaviour and movement patterns. We present a new device, the Human Interfaced Personal Observation Platform (HIPOP), which is a head-mounted (typ...

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Published in: PeerJ
ISSN: 2167-8359
Published: PeerJ 2015
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20646
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Abstract: Understanding the way humans inform themselves about their environment is pivotal in helping explain our susceptibility to stimuli and how this modulates behaviour and movement patterns. We present a new device, the Human Interfaced Personal Observation Platform (HIPOP), which is a head-mounted (typically on a hat) unit that logs magnetometry and accelerometry data at high rates and, following appropriate calibration, can be used to determine the heading and pitch of the wearer's head. We used this device on participants visiting a botanical garden and noted that although head pitch ranged between -80º and 60º, 25% confidence limits were restricted to an arc of about 25º with a tendency for the head to be pitched down (mean head pitch ranged between -43º and 0º). Mean rates of change of head pitch varied between -0.00187º/0.1 s and 0.00187º/0.1 s, markedly slower than rates of change of head heading which varied between -0.3141º/0.1 s and 0.01263º/0.1 s although frequency distributions of both parameters showed them to be symmetrical and monomodal. Overall, there was considerable variation in both head pitch and head heading, which highlighted the role that head orientation might play in exposing people to certain features of the environment. Thus, when used in tandem with accurate position-determining systems, the HIPOP can be used to determine how the head is orientated relative to gravity and geographic North and in relation to geographic position, presenting data on how the environment is being ‘framed’ by people in relation to environmental content.
Keywords: Environmental framing, Head attitude, Navigation behaviour
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: e908
Start Page: e908
End Page: 29