Perceptual scale expansion: An efficient angular coding strategy for locomotor space
Frank H. Durgin,Zhi Li +1 more
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It is shown that the perceived declination of gaze, like the perceived orientation of surfaces, is coded on a distorted scale, and the theory is advanced that this scale expansion (by a factor of about 1.5) may serve a functional goal of coding efficiency for angular perceptual variables.Abstract:
Whereas most sensory information is coded on a logarithmic scale, linear expansion of a limited range may provide a more efficient coding for the angular variables important to precise motor control. In four experiments, we show that the perceived declination of gaze, like the perceived orientation of surfaces, is coded on a distorted scale. The distortion seems to arise from a nearly linear expansion of the angular range close to horizontal/straight ahead and is evident in explicit verbal and nonverbal measures (Experiments 1 and 2), as well as in implicit measures of perceived gaze direction (Experiment 4). The theory is advanced that this scale expansion (by a factor of about 1.5) may serve a functional goal of coding efficiency for angular perceptual variables. The scale expansion of perceived gaze declination is accompanied by a corresponding expansion of perceived optical slants in the same range (Experiments 3 and 4). These dual distortions can account for the explicit misperception of distance typically obtained by direct report and exocentric matching, while allowing for accurate spatial action to be understood as the result of calibration.read more
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References
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Journal Article
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information
TL;DR: The theory of information as discussed by the authors provides a yardstick for calibrating our stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of our subjects and provides a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions.
Book
The magical number seven plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information
TL;DR: The theory provides us with a yardstick for calibrating the authors' stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of their subjects, and the concepts and measures provided by the theory provide a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions.
Book
Handbook of perception and human performance
TL;DR: This handbook covers theory and methods; basic visual processes; auditory, kinesthetic, cutaneous, and vestibular senses; and space and motion perception; and human performance.
Book ChapterDOI
Perceiving Layout and Knowing Distances: The Integration, Relative Potency, and Contextual Use of Different Information about Depth*
TL;DR: This chapter discusses three questions and suggests that list making has misled about space and layout and can begin to understand how those sources of information sharing the same-shaped functions across distances can help ramify judgments of layout by serving to correct measurement errors in each.
Journal ArticleDOI
Visual space perception and visually directed action.
TL;DR: The results of two types of experiments are reported in this article, showing that the distortion in the mapping from physical to visual space evident in the visual matching task does not manifest itself in the visually open-loop motoric tasks.