Psychological Effects of Visual Field Information on Wheelchair Users

Many countries including Japan are facing a super aging society. In such a society, it will be necessary for elderly people to live as independently as possible. For example, they should be able to visit local supermarkets or hospitals on their own. If the elderly have weak legs, they will get around by using personal mobility vehicles, such as electric wheelchairs. When the elderly use a personal mobility vehicle in a crowded situation such as supermarkets, they may feel psychological stress about collisions with other people. In this research project, we fitted test subjects with a skin potential reflex device (SPR) to determine their psychological stress levels in such situations, and examined the effects of human visual field information on the vehicle users.