Answer to Question 1
To measure depth perception, Gibson & Walk placed babies on a surface that
apparently ends with a sudden drop. Ten-month-olds fearfully refused to cross over the
cliff even when their mothers called them. The researchers felt that the stopping
demonstrated that 10-month-olds have depth perception. In addition, research with
3-month-olds showed that they noticed the difference.
Answer to Question 2
Responses should show an understanding of the various areas of research on
perception including affordances (Gibsons' view) and graspability. The student should
also show an awareness that not all the research is perfect. Far too often when
observing various types of infant reactions, researchers assume perception is
occurring and this reliance on these reactions is always problematic. In addition, there
has not been enough replication of this research. It would be expected that the student
will find some areas of this research to be believable and some to be problematic.
Students may note that since the research is based purely on observation and
subjective interpretation of infants' facial expressions, this may create problems. While
we are able to observe outward behaviors, it is always difficult to know what is going
on mentally, so we rely on our best guess.
Common eye and vision problems
Human Visual System
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