Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The role of multimodally specified effort in action-relevant distance perception

White, Eliah

Abstract Details

2012, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Psychology.
Four experiments investigated how distance perception is influenced by multimodally specified effort (MSE)—the volume of oxygen consumed to traverse an optically specified distance. A virtual-reality treadmill environment was utilized. For the first half of an experimental trial (standard phase), participants were instructed to walk a target distance (visible in the display initially) and then asked to reproduce that distance (reporting phase). Experiment 1 evaluated whether systematic increases in the effort involved in walking would increase distance reports by having participants walk during the reporting phase with mass added to their body in either different positions on the body (1a) or different magnitudes on the ankles (1b). Participants perceived distances to be further with added mass at the ankles compared to a backpack and no added mass. In Experiment 1b, two matched magnitudes of MSE were achieved by manipulating weight (5% and 10% of body weight was added) and grade of inclination (two magnitudes that match the ankle weight values in terms of MSE). Perceived distance was significantly greater only in the 10% conditions relative to the control condition. Previous research has suggested the informational basis for perceived distance involves the symmetry of gait during the measurement and report phases. Experiment 2 addressed this by controlling for the effort associated with gait symmetry. The experimental conditions involved a gallop walk (GW) gait and identical changes in MSE as that produced by GW gait via the addition of ankle weights and by changing optic flow rate. As predicted, the matched MSE values produced increased distance reports compared to the control condition. In Experiment 3, participants wore foam shoes that increased walking effort. The increased MSE value achieved with foam shoes was matched with a lower optic flow rate to produce two distance estimation trials that were equivalent in terms of MSE. As predicted, distance reports were greater while wearing foam shoes and in the reduced optic flow rate condition and those influences were statistically equivalent to one another. Visual-motor recalibration influences on perceived distance reported via blind walking are typically attributed to internal models (cognitive models hypothesized to be used when vision is no longer available) that determine reported walking distance based on the corresponding optical distance established by the calibration between the two (e.g., Loomis & Beall 2004). Experiment 4 investigated the general utility of an internal model account of distance perception compared to MSE. Parameters (increased walking rate, grade and ankle weights) were manipulated during the standard phase of the trial and during the reporting phase, eyes were closed. However, there were no significant differences across any of the conditions suggesting a manipulation during the standard phase may not affect perceived distance in the same fashion as manipulations during the reporting phase. This set of experiments provides further evidence that a multimodal variable such as MSE may provide greater explanatory power and provide prior predictions about changes in perceived distance based on actual effort than either internal models or existing theoretical accounts of action-related distance perception.
Kevin Shockley, PhD (Committee Chair)
Michael Richardson, PhD (Committee Member)
Sarah Cummins-Sebree, PhD (Committee Member)
Michael Riley, PhD (Committee Member)
86 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • White, E. (2012). The role of multimodally specified effort in action-relevant distance perception [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342463538

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • White, Eliah. The role of multimodally specified effort in action-relevant distance perception. 2012. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342463538.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • White, Eliah. "The role of multimodally specified effort in action-relevant distance perception." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342463538

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)