Perceptual Modification

Perceptual Modification: Adapting to Altered Sensory Environments is about the study of human perception using a particular research strategy: the systematic alteration of vision or audition. It is assumed that by observing how the sensory apparatus copes with this disturbance it will be possible to formulate valuable hypotheses about the structure and development of ''normal'' perception and perceptual-motor coordination. The specific goals of this book are, first, to organize the vast and confusing literature on adaptation to perceptual rearrangement and, second, to assess its contribution to the understanding of ''normal'' perception and perceptual learning. The book begins with discussions of adaptation to small prism-induced displacements of the visual field. Separate chapters follow on the proposition that adaptation to prismatic displacement and other forms of rearrangement is actually a form of learning; adaptation to inverted and reversed vision; optical tilt; illusory motions of the visual field; size-depth distortions; and distortions of form. Subsequent chapters deal with studies of auditory rearrangement; examine individual and interspecies differences in adaptability; and the study of adaptation to the visual distortions encountered by the underwater observer. The book is written for researchers and graduate students in experimental psychology. It will be of value and interest whether the reader is a specialist in the area of perceptual modification, or indeed a generalist.