ABSTRACT

Objective: This study comparatively evaluated seven hypotheses to explain the Black Hole Illusion.

Background: Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the Black Hole Illusion (BHI), with differing predictions. The Constant Visual Angle hypothesis predicts that short runways should cause greater BHI. Meanwhile, several other hypotheses predict that longer runways should cause more severe BHI. In addition, there is debate whether lack of ground cues promotes BHI via autokinesis or by biasing pilots’ perception of the runway.

Method: Nineteen qualified pilots flew 27 simulated nighttime approaches in a fixed-base flight simulator. Participants flew under different combinations of runway length, starting distance from the runway, and starting altitude. We analyzed glideslope error, defined as a weighted sum of the error above or below a prescribed 3° glideslope, as well as RMSE around the approach path.

Results: We found that pilots tended to demonstrate worse BHI effects during approaches to longer runways and when starting at low altitudes compared to high altitudes. Daylight and nighttime flights showed a similar variance around the glideslope.

Conclusion: The constant visual angle hypothesis is not supported by our findings. We observed consistent glideslopes across starting locations and similar variance during day/night conditions, leading us to favor biased perception of the runway over autokinetic effects to explain the influence of contextual features on BHI.

摘要

目的：本研究比较评估了七个假设以解释黑洞幻觉。

背景：已经提出了几种假设来解释黑洞错觉（BHI），但预测不同。恒定视角假说预测，短跑道会导致更大的BHI。同时，其他一些假设预测更长的跑道会导致更严重的BHI。此外，还有争论是否缺乏地面提示会通过自动运动或偏向飞行员对跑道的感知来促进BHI。

方法：19名合格的飞行员在固定基地飞行模拟器中进行了27种夜间夜间进近飞行。参与者在不同的跑道长度，距跑道的起始距离和起始高度的组合下飞行。我们分析了下滑坡误差，该误差定义为高于或低于规定的3°下滑坡的误差的加权和，以及进近路径周围的RMSE。

结果：我们发现，与高海拔地区相比，飞行员在更长的跑道进近以及从低海拔地区起飞时倾向于表现出较差的BHI效应。白天和夜间飞行在滑坡附近显示出类似的变化。

结论：我们的发现不支持恒定的视角假设。我们在白天/晚上的条件下观察到了起始位置的一致滑坡和相似的方差，这使我们倾向于对跑道的偏见而不是对自动动力学的影响，以解释背景特征对BHI的影响。