Effects of cognitive load and type of object on the visual looming bias.

Abstract

According to the behavioral urgency hypothesis, organisms have evolved various mechanisms that facilitate their survival by focusing attention and resources on approaching danger. One example of such mechanisms is the looming bias-the tendency for an individual to judge an approaching object's distance as being closer or time-to-collision as being sooner than receding or stationary objects. To date, most research on the looming bias has explored the ways in which human factors and object characteristics influence the strength and direction of the bias. The current study expanded on this field of research in two novels ways by exploring (a) whether cognitive vulnerabilities may influence the strength of the looming bias in the visual domain, and (b) whether the combination of human factors (i.e., cognitive load) and object characteristics (i.e., object threat) interact to create an additive effect on looming bias strength. Findings appear to only partially support the hypotheses that cognitive vulnerabilities can influence looming bias strength in the visual domain, and that factors related to both the individual and the looming object may interact to create a stronger looming bias. These findings help to highlight possible evolutionary advantages of the looming bias and its presence across modalities, as well as add some strength to the claims that the margin of safety theory can be generalized to include psychological factors.