Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Science
Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Psychology, Experimental
The eye is uniformly attracted toward the light and the location of
the disk correspondingly elevated or depressed. The amount of
displacement which appears is relatively large. It will be found to
vary with the intensity, extent and distance of the illuminated
surfaces introduced. There can be little doubt that the practical
judgments of life are likewise affected by the distribution of light
intensities, and possibly also of significant objects, above and below
the horizon belt. Every brilliant object attracts the eye toward
itself; and the horizon beneath a low sun or moon will be found to be
located higher than in a clouded sky. The upper half of the ordinary
field of view--the clear sky--is undiversified and unimportant; the
lower half is full of objects and has significance. We should probably
be right in attributing to these characteristic differences a share in
the production of the negative error of judgment which appears in
judgments made in daylight. The introduction of such supplementary
stimuli appears to have little effect upon the regularity of the
series of judgments, the values of the mean variations being
relatively low: 17'.42 with light below, 17'.74 with it above.
IX.
In the final series of experiments the influence of limiting visual
planes upon the determination of the subjective horizon was taken up.
It had been noticed by Dr. Münsterberg in the course of travel in hill
country that a curious negative displacement of the subjective horizon
took place when one looked across a downward slope to a distant cliff,
the altitude (in relation to the observer's own standpoint) of
specific points on the wall of rock being largely overestimated.
Attributing the illusion to a reconstruction of the sensory data upon
an erroneous interpretation of the objective relations of the
temporary plane of the landscape, Dr. Münsterberg later made a series
of rough experiments by stretching an inclined cord from the eye
downward to a lower point on an opposite wall and estimating the
height above its termination of that point which appeared to be on a
level with the observing eye. He found an illusion present similar to
the case of an extended slope of country.
The first experiments of this group repeated those just described. The
previous mechanical conditions were varied only by the introduction of
a slender cord which was stretched from just below the eyes to the
bottom of the vertical screen. Full results were obtained from only
two observers, which are given in the following table:
TABLE XI.
Observer. Const. Err. Av. Dev. Mean Var. Exp. Conds.
_C_ (30) +123.92 123.92 11.94 Cord present and
_G_ (30) +66.47 66.47 15.56 consciously referred to.
_C_ (30) +126.90 126.90 6.31 Cord not present.
_G_ (30) +83.20 83.20 6.31
_C_ (30) +126.93 126.93 6.39 Cord present but not
_G_ (30) +86.63 86.63 9.40 consciously referred to.
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