On Tue, 09 Feb 2016 08:47:27 -0800, Michael Scoles wrote:
My first guess wasn't that good. On pages 246-249 of "The senses
considered as perceptual systems," Gibson discusses reversible figure
ground and impossible (Escher-type) figures. His explanation is that
the
same stimulus can provide equivocal information. In natural settings,
children and adults learn which sources of information should be
attended
to.
With respect to the Ames room illusion, movement in the environment
should eliminate the illusion from a Gibsonian perspective but one
should take a look at the following reference:
Effect of ecological viewing conditions on the Ames' distorted room
illusion.
Gehringer, William L.; Engel, Edward
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
Vol 12(2), May 1986, 181-185.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.12.2.181
|Ecological theory asserts that the Ames' distorted room illusion
|(DRI) occurs as a result of the artificial restriction of information
|pickup. According to J. J. Gibson (1966, 1979), the illusion is
|eliminated when binocular vision and/or head movement are
|allowed. Exp I, with 144 undergraduates, used size-matching
|technique employing discs placed within an Ames' distorted
|room to measure the DRI. Ss viewed the distorted room or a
|control apparatus under 4 viewing conditions (i.e., restricted or
|unrestricted head movement), using monocular and binocular
|vision. In Exp II, 20 Ss viewed binocularly and were instructed
|to move freely while making judgments. Findings show that the
|DRI decreased with increases in viewing access, although it
|persisted under all viewing conditions. The persistence of the
|illusion is seen as contradicting Gibson's position.
Quoting from the article's General Discussion:
|...However, Gibson's claim was not simply that illusions
|will be modified in a veridical direction as one adds further
|information, but rather that if access is allowed, the actual
|spatial layout will be picked up. This latter concept leaves
|no room for any perceived rectangularity in viewing a trapezoidal
|three-dimensional configuration. Nevertheless, the results
|suggest that the illusion is present, to some degree, even
|under the optimum conditions of observation. Therefore, in
|this instance of a three-dimensional spatial layout, perceptual
|organization cannot be said to be wholly determined by the
|environmental-optical structure.
On a sidenote, ordinarily when I think of Gibson I do not think
of Skinner but William Uttal in his book "Psychomythics" lumps
them together as radical empiricists. The text is available on
books.google.com in preview mode and the following link
should/might lead one to the appropriate section of the book:
https://books.google.com/books?id=vil6AgAAQBAJ&q=gibson#v=snippet&q=gibson&f=false
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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