Falling is a major health risk in workplaces and homes worldwide. Our efforts at falling prevention have made little impact in reducing the number or severity of falls in recent decades. These efforts focus on physical barriers, but neglect the ways that individuals react to those barriers. The current research used Evolved Navigation Theory in order to predict how barriers influence perception in falling risk scenarios. Participants in two experiments estimated surfaces varying in falling risk and barrier type. Experiment 1 identified that environmental perception unknowingly reflected falling risk. Experiment 2 identified specific perceptual differences that derived from differences in physical barriers. These data provide a new capacity to address a major worldwide health risk.
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