Abstract
Several emerging smartphone location-based augmented-reality (AR) games require three primary tasks: training or battling a monster, capturing a monster, and searching for a monster, which involve different levels of perceptual load. Using the AR game originated from Japan as a single case study, this study examined inattentional blindness and deafness and risk-taking inclinations among participants concurrently descending stairs and engaging in these three tasks. Participants descending stairs in Taipei Medical University were observed through recordings obtained from Wi-Fi cameras to determine whether they engaged in risk-taking behaviors such as hopping, not using the handrail, and stopping suddenly. After the participants descended the stairs, they were interviewed to obtain additional information regarding demographics, game tasks (training or battling a monster, capturing a monster, or searching for a monster), data plan, and screen size. Inattentional blindness and deafness were investigated by determining whether participants saw something unusual, a police ascending the stairs, and heard the national anthem played by the police, respectively. In total, 1036 participants descended the stairs and underwent the interview between August 2016 and July 2018. Logistic regression models revealed that training or battling a monster was most associated with inattentional blindness, deafness, not using the handrail, and stopping suddenly, whereas hopping behavior was the commonest among those capturing a monster. Other contributory factors include a large smartphone screen (≥5 in), unlimited mobile data, being an undergraduate student, and an increase in the daily gaming hours. Development of smartphone apps toward detection of stair locomotion may be beneficial for curbing phone use in general and AR game playing in particular.
Highlights
Stairways are a common place for falls; falls occur especially while descending stairs and are often associated with deaths or severe injuries (Jacobs, 2016)
Our primary research hypothesis is that training or battling a monster is the task most associated with inattentional blindness, deafness, and risk-taking behaviors such as not using the handrail or changes in gait kinematics
The literature has demonstrated that visual and auditory detection sensitivity was reduced with high visual perceptual load (Raveh and Lavie, 2015)
Summary
Stairways are a common place for falls; falls occur especially while descending stairs and are often associated with deaths or severe injuries (Jacobs, 2016). Studies have suggested that 41% of falls on stairs coincide with risk-taking behaviors such as hopping or not using the handrail, and phone use was one of the distractions that may potentially impair visual awareness and place additional demands on resource-limited cognitive processes (Jacobs, 2016; Lester et al, 2016). Studies examining the association between phone use, risk-taking behavior, reduced visual, and cognitive capacity during stair walking have focused on texting. Lester et al (2016) concluded that texting resulted in a significant reduction in stairway eye fixation Haga and his colleagues (Haga et al, 2016; Haga and Matsuyama, 2018) concluded that in a laboratory setting, the number of missed visual or auditory targets was significantly greater among those texting or using Twitter during stair or treadmill walking
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