The physiology of information transfer during human eye movement is briefly discussed. While the driver is looking at the head down display, information on the road ahead is lost. Colour perception disturbances are found in 8% of men whereas women are rarely affected. Vehicle manufacturers were asked what colours they used to illuminate their dashboards, why these colours were chosen and what market response or complaints had been received. Commercial or brand differentiation considerations dominated most manufacturers' responses. Physiological effects of different coloured lighting are described, along with experiments carried out by the US Navy on ambient illumination. Low level white lighting was selected as the best choice after trying red and blue light. Further studies by vehicle manufacturers are considered desirable. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123380.
Samenvatting