The effect of image fractal properties and its interaction with visual discomfort on gait kinematics

Exposure to images of urban environments affords higher cognitive processing demands than exposure to images of nature scenes; an effect potentially related to differences in low-level image statistics such as fractals. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the fractal dimensions o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-10, Vol.13 (1), p.16581-16581, Article 16581
Main Authors: Burtan, D., Burn, J. F., Spehar, B., Leonards, U.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/2649
631/477/2811
Cognitive ability
Cognitive load
Fractals
Gait
Humanities and Social Sciences
Information processing
Kinematics
Load
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Telematics
Urban environments
Velocity
Walking
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Exposure to images of urban environments affords higher cognitive processing demands than exposure to images of nature scenes; an effect potentially related to differences in low-level image statistics such as fractals. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the fractal dimensions of an abstract scene affect cognitive processing demands, using gait kinematics as a measure of cognitive demand. Participants (n = 40) were asked to walk towards different types of synthetic images which were parametrically varied in their fractal dimensions. At the end of each walk, participants rated each image for its visual discomfort (n = 20) or for its likability (n = 20) as potential confounding factors. Fractal dimensions were predictors of walking speed. Moreover, the interaction between fractal dimensions and subjective visual discomfort but not liking predicted velocity. Overall, these data suggest that fractal dimensions indeed contribute to environmentally induced cognitive processing demands.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-42114-0