Citation

Burton G. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1992; 18(3): 698-713.

Affiliation

Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action, University of Connecticut.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1500870

Abstract

The ability of persons to locomote without vision with the aid of a hand-held probe was investigated in 4 experiments focusing on the negotiation of gaps in a pathway. In Experiment 1, subjects of extreme heights judged under sighted and blindfolded conditions whether gaps of different sizes could be crossed by walking. Crossability boundaries were lower for shorter subjects, but the height effect disappeared under normalization by leg length. Experiments 2-4 altered mechanical aspects of the probe (length and mass distribution) in the nonvisual case. Subjects' performance was still reliable in each experiment, and their performances were constrained by parameters of the gap and of their action systems. Probe variables, however, had surprisingly little influence on the judgments of crossability. Results were discussed in terms of potential roles for information in different perceptual modalities.

Language: en