Why do crash test dummies have that 4-quadrant circle on the sides of their heads?

Question

Every time I see a video of a crash test for a car, the dummies inside the car have a circle on the side of their heads.

You probably know what I'm talking about.

It's divided into 4 sections. 2 yellow and 2 black usually, with the opposite quadrants being the same color.

Just wondering why these are there. I think it has to do something with watching them on the high-speed camera but I dunno

Answer 1

They are reference points to help measure the distance and direction the test subject moves before and after impact

Answer 2

whoa. it's weird that people actually know WHY they're there. But now i do so.. i'm a little bit smarter now.

Answer 3

Reference points for slow motion photography and computer related sensors.

Answer 4

They were originally put on there because that 4-quadrant paint smeared off on the glass, so they could see the paint smears on the broken windows (safety glass, remember) and calculate the point of impact before high-speed cameras.  Probably not necessary nowadays, but even with high-speed cameras those marks can help the engineers figure out where the dummies strike the glass.