A visibility assessment of the design pattern of car tail lamps in terms of perceptual sensitivity on face recognition abilities

In recent years, there has been concern regarding the frequent occurrence of nighttime collisions. This research aims to clarify how differences in tail lamp design affect their visibility to other drivers, with a view to develop a design that will make tail lamps more conspicuous. By focusing on visibility in human face recognition abilities, we conducted a subjective evaluation experiment and visual search task using rear-shots of vehicles. The experimental results revealed that a human’s impression of a rear-shot of a vehicle is structurally similar to their impression of a face, and that the tail lamp design affects reaction time. Moreover, electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements verified the validity of the results from a neuroscience perspective. These findings may be used for developing tail lamp designs that are more striking so as to be more noticeable to fellow drivers.