L. Brosgole, DYNAMIC SIZE PERCEPTION AS A FUNCTION OF TARGET LOCATION IN EGOCENTRIC SPACE, Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31(4), 1993, pp. 282-284
Two experiments were run in which subjects judged the sizes of stimuli
that moved toward and away from them in total darkness by varying a c
omparison stimulus. In Experiment 1, the target was centered with resp
ect to eye level in the first condition, extended upward from the eye
level in the second condition, and extended downward from eye level in
the third condition. The subjects were instructed to maintain a level
gaze in all conditions. All targets changed in apparent size as a fun
ction of varying distance, but the type of change was contingent upon
the egocentric location of the stimulus. In Experiment 2, the point at
which subjects fixated the stimuli was manipulated. Varying fixation
had no effect upon apparent visual size. These data were interpreted a
s supporting an egocentric explanation of size perception.