Psychology 2020L – Visual Displacement Laboratory

Due: Mar. 5 (A2&B2) & Mar. 7 (C2)

Does the body compensate for changes in a person’s perceptual environment? Over the years, there has been debate concerning the topic of adaptation and perceptual abilities. Some researchers have argued that perceptual abilities are innate and therefore should not be influenced by experience. However, other researchers have argued that perceptual abilities are influenced by experience and therefore, can adjust to certain changes to the perceptual environment. Experimental evidence seems to be consistent with the latter view, as it has been shown in both animals and humans that some perceptual abilities can be influenced by experience.

In this lab, we are going to investigate if the body compensates for visual distortion. Using prism goggles with a 20 dioptre horizontal displacement to the right, we will examine how performance is initially affected by this displacement. We will also examine how performance is affected after the individual has had some experience with this visual displacement.

There are two independent variables that we will be examining in this experiment – visual displacement (i.e., wearing goggles or not) and practice. The visual displacement variable consists of two levels: goggles and no goggles. The practice variable also consists of two levels: practice and no practice. The dependent variable is lateral distance from the target (in cm). This will be determined by measuring the distance (in cm) to the right or left of the center of the target. Distance to the left of the target will be recorded with a – sign and distance to the right of the target is recorded with a + sign.

Several members of the class will participate in this experiment and each participant will be randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 experimental conditions. Equal numbers of participants will be in 4 conditions. All participants will stand 5.5 ft. from the dartboard that is mounted on a notice board. A picture measuring 12 cm tall x 12.5 cm wide is placed in the center of the board. All participants are instructed to keep their hands at their sides until asked to throw the dart.

Condition 1 – No goggles/no practice: This group does not wear goggles and they do not practice. They throw one dart and their lateral distance from the center of the target is measured.

Condition 2 – No goggles/practice: This group does not wear goggles but does practice. These individuals throw one dart every 15 sec. for a total of 2 minutes (9 darts). Then they throw a single dart and the distance from the center of the target is recorded.

Condition 3 – Goggles/no practice: This group wears goggles but does not practice. As soon as the individuals put on the goggles they throw the dart at the target and the distance from the center of the target is measured.

Condition 4 – Goggles/practice: This group wears goggles but does practice. They put on the goggles and immediately throw a dart. They continue to throw a dart every 15 sec for 2 minutes (9 darts). Then they throw a single dart and the distance from the center of the target is recorded.

A person from the class will record the age, sex, condition and distance from target to right (+) or left (-) of the target’s center. All of this information will be entered into SPSS and you and your partner will conduct a 2x2 between-subjects ANOVA on the data.

After you have analysed the data, you and your partner must complete a full APA write up of the experiment. You will be required to include a Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and Reference section. You should include the SPSS printouts in an Appendix. Also, please provide a bar graph that illustrates the data for the four conditions.

For the introduction you need a minimum of 3 articles to serve as background for your lab. Remember to state your hypotheses. For the method section, remember to note how we got our participants, how they were assigned to groups, and describe both the materials we used and the procedure that we followed for the experiment. Remember to report important details that other experimenters would need to know to replicate our experiment. For the results, indicate the findings and report the statistics in proper APA format. For the discussion section, do not forget to discuss the implications of your findings as well as how they fit into the literature and indicate if they supported your hypotheses. Finally, don’t forget to cite your references in an APA style reference page. Finally, provide the SPSS printouts in an Appendix and make sure that you include the bar graph.