Hi On Mon, 19 Nov 2001, Hershberger, Tom wrote: > "Target fixation" is the idea that you will walk, run, aim, or drive > where you are looking. It is widely used in the military and racecar > driving. It purported works something like this. I am driving down the road > and discover an obstacle in my path. The argument goes that I should look > where I want to go, not at the obstacle. By looking at the obstacle I will > have a tendency to steer towards it, rather than away---splat, not the > desired outcome. > > This seems like something psychologist should know something about. > The problem is that I with a quick search of PsychInfo and a few other > databases produced nothing on point.
One name that comes to mind is Stephen Tipper, of negative priming fame. I believe that he has also done research on reaching with various kinds of distractors. Mel Goodale is another possibility. Both of these are basic researchers, so it may be some stretch to relate their work to your specific issue. If you find relevant work, I would be interested in hearing about it. Just thinking logically about it, perhaps experts acquire some special capacity to focus on the target and not be attracted to it (or at least not overly attracted to it). Imagine a down-hill skier for example. They must focus pretty intensely on each flag-pole as they try to steer as close as possible without hitting it. Best wishes Jim ============================================================================ James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark ============================================================================ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
