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Related Experiment Videos

The precision of size constancy.

S P McKee1, L Welch

  • 1Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94115.

Vision Research
|August 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study found that size constancy, the perception of object size despite changes in viewing distance, is less effective at small visual scales. However, people can learn to adjust their size perception with practice, suggesting it may be a learned response.

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Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Psychophysics
  • Cognitive science

Background:

  • Objective size judgments are crucial for navigating the environment.
  • Size constancy is a fundamental aspect of visual perception, allowing stable size perception despite changes in viewing distance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the precision of objective size judgments with angular size judgments under varying target disparity.
  • To investigate the effectiveness of size constancy at different visual scales.
  • To explore whether size constancy is an innate ability or a learned response.

Main Methods:

  • Participants judged incremental changes in the vertical separation of horizontal lines under conditions of random trial-to-trial target disparity.
  • Objective size judgments (in cm) and angular size judgments (in arc min) were recorded.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Performance was assessed by comparing objective and angular thresholds and Weber fractions.

    • Main Results:

    • Objective size thresholds were significantly higher than angular thresholds for small visual scales (< 10 arc min).
    • At larger scales (> 20 arc min), Weber fractions for both judgment types were similar (~6%) for most participants.
    • Participants could learn to judge 'objective size' even when visual cues were inverted, suggesting size constancy may be learned.

    Conclusions:

    • Size constancy functions less effectively at small visual scales.
    • The ability to learn 'anti-constancy' judgments suggests that size constancy itself might be a learned perceptual response.
    • Visual observers may not have direct access to retinal angle information when stereopsis is engaged.