AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON RELATIVITY, ERROR AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTION OF VELOCITY, TIME AND DISTANCE.
Abstract
Proceeding from the principle of relativity in perception, it was found empirically that subjective velocity of and subjective distance (space) covered by a moving object are also relative, in the sense that (a) subjective velocity is a negatively decelerating power function of the motion-track length (or observation time); (b) subjective motion-track length varies directly with speed (actually it varies inversely with time); (c) the relation between subjective velocity and time (or space) as well as that between subjective space and time are independent of any definition of physical velocity. The absolute error of the subjective velocity (time, space) estimates was found to be a parabolic function of the subjective estimates of velocity (time, space) lying between 0-1, while a linear function was found for the values beyond 1. The relative error follows a hyperbolic curve for the subjective estimates of velocity (time, pace) within the former range but a parabolic curve within the latter one. Sex differences were not found in the estimation of subjective time and space. Women, however, have higher estimates of the same subjective speeds than men have. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0618133
Entities
People
- Madjid Mashhour
Organizations
- Stockholm University