The Perception Of Falling Objects

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dc.contributor.advisorLaurence Harris
dc.contributor.authorMai Huong Phan
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-07T11:04:55Z
dc.date.available2024-11-07T11:04:55Z
dc.date.copyright2024-06-26
dc.date.issued2024-11-07
dc.date.updated2024-11-07T11:04:54Z
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology(Functional Area: Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Sciences
dc.degree.levelMaster's
dc.degree.nameMA - Master of Arts
dc.description.abstractAristotle believed that objects fell at a constant velocity, which raised the possibility that people's visual perception of falling motion might be biased away from acceleration towards constant velocity. I tested this idea by requiring participants to judge whether a ball moving in a simulated naturalistic setting appeared to accelerate or decelerate, as a function of its motion direction and the amount of acceleration/deceleration. I found that the point of subjective constant velocity (PSCV) differed between up and down but not between left and right motion directions, which indicated that more acceleration was needed for a downward-falling object to appear at constant velocity than for an upward “falling” object. I found no significant differences in sensitivity to acceleration for the different motion directions. My results support the idea that Aristotle's belief may in part be due to a bias that reduces the perceived magnitude of acceleration for falling objects.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/42421
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectCognitive psychology
dc.subjectExperimental psychology
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subject.keywordsacceleration
dc.subject.keywordsdeceleration
dc.subject.keywordsspeed
dc.subject.keywordsmotion
dc.subject.keywordsgravity
dc.subject.keywordsdirection
dc.titleThe Perception Of Falling Objects
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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