BIOGRAPHY
How do people steer toward a target or goal, avoiding obstacles, and intercepting moving objects? Visual perception and control of locomotion is the subject of my research. In the virtual reality lab, I am able to manipulate certain properties of the simulated environment to learn more about the visual information and strategies people use to control locomotion. Subjects are asked to walk toward a target and avoid an obstacle. The goal may float in empty black space or rest on a ground surface in a richly textured environment. Visual information about the subject's spatial and temporal relation to objects in the environment may also be manipulated. For example, subjects may walk toward an object that does not optically expand – get bigger – as they grow closer to it. At the theoretical level, I am attempting to characterize a moving person's relationship to his or her environment. A better understanding of locomotion has broad implications for situations such as driving vehicles and building robots that can move about without bumping into objects. It may lead to a better understanding of skilled behavior such as that performed by an athlete, like catching a baseball or tackling an opposing football player. I came to Brown after receiving my doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Connecticut.
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