Eves Frank F, Thorpe Susannah K S, Lewis Amanda, Taylor-Covill Guy A H
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands, UK , B15 2TT,
Psychon Bull Rev. 2014 Jun;21(3):637-44. doi: 10.3758/s13423-013-0535-8.
Perception of hill slant is exaggerated in explicit awareness. Proffitt (Perspectives on Psychological Science 1:110-122, 2006) argued that explicit perception of the slant of a climb allows individuals to plan locomotion in keeping with their available locomotor resources, yet no behavioral evidence supports this contention. Pedestrians in a built environment can often avoid climbing stairs, the man-made equivalent of steep hills, by choosing an adjacent escalator. Stair climbing is avoided more by women, the old, and the overweight than by their comparators. Two studies tested perceived steepness of the stairs as a cue that promotes this avoidance. In the first study, participants estimated the steepness of a staircase in a train station (n = 269). Sex, age, height, and weight were recorded. Women, older individuals, and those who were heavier and shorter reported the staircase as steeper than did their comparison groups. In a follow-up study in a shopping mall, pedestrians were recruited from those who chose the stairs and those who avoided them, with the samples stratified for sex, age, and weight status. Participants (n = 229) estimated the steepness of a life-sized image of the stairs they had just encountered, presented on the wall of a vacant shop in the mall. Pedestrians who avoided stair climbing by choosing the escalator reported the stairs as steeper even when demographic differences were controlled. Perceived steepness may to be a contextual cue that pedestrians use to avoid stair climbing when an alternative is available.
在明确意识中，对山坡坡度的感知被夸大了。普罗菲特（《心理科学展望》1:110 - 122，2006年）认为，对攀爬坡度的明确感知能让个体根据自身可用的运动资源来规划行动，但尚无行为证据支持这一观点。在人造环境中的行人通常可以通过选择相邻的自动扶梯来避免爬楼梯，楼梯相当于人造的陡坡。女性、老年人和超重者比其他人更常避免爬楼梯。两项研究测试了楼梯的感知陡峭程度作为促使这种避免行为的线索。在第一项研究中，参与者估计了火车站一个楼梯的陡峭程度（n = 269）。记录了性别、年龄、身高和体重。女性、年长者以及体重较重和身高较矮的人报告说楼梯比对照组的人感觉更陡。在商场的一项后续研究中，从选择楼梯和避免爬楼梯的行人中招募参与者，并按性别、年龄和体重状况对样本进行分层。参与者（n = 229）估计了他们刚刚遇到的楼梯的真人大小图像的陡峭程度，该图像展示在商场一家空店铺的墙上。即使控制了人口统计学差异，通过选择自动扶梯避免爬楼梯的行人仍报告楼梯更陡。感知陡峭程度可能是行人在有替代选择时用来避免爬楼梯的一种情境线索。
