A Formal Report Of Visual Perception

Title: That immediate past experiences of being presented with either images of animals or faces influence what the subject perceives in the ambiguous figure in that if presented with animals, the subject would see a rat, and subjects shown the faces will see a man's face.

Abstract: The primary purpose of this activity was to investigate immediate past experiences and how they play a part in visual perception. The basic method involved participants being divided into three pairs to be tested under three different conditions. Condition one involved being presented with images of animals before being presented with the ambiguous image and condition two where presented with images of faces before being shown the ambiguous image. Group three, the control group, were shown nothing before being asked what they see in the ambiguous image. The raw data was presented in a series of charts which allowed a much easier analysis of the results. The conclusions obtained from this investigation were that although the original hypothesis was not completely supported, immediate past experiences may potentially influence one's visual past experiences.

Introduction: Numerous studies have done in relevance to past experiences and the role it plays on visual perception, but the studies mainly do not focus on long term past experiences as apposed to immediate past experiences.

Among this research was that of Postman Et Al, 1948. His pioneering study revealed that after being exposed to a range of words, participants were more likely to perceive those words that held meaning for them based on their own life experiences than words that held little personal experience for them.

Also worthy of mention is the important research conducted by Hans Toch and Richard Schulte in 1961, who hypothesized that past experience influenced which illustration would be perceived more readily when two illustrations where briefly presented to participants.

There are no ethical problems with this investigations, as all participants are informed of what the test involves before permission is obtained. The method is very straight forward so the participants did not feel pressured to take it too seriously.

This ERA hypothesizes that immediate past experiences of being presented with either images of animals or faces influence what the subject perceives in the ambiguous figure in that if presented with animals, the subject would see a rat, and subjects shown the faces will see a man's face, meaning that immediate past experience will have an influence over visual perception. The IV in this test will be the the set of cards the participant is show and the DV will what the participant sees in the ambiguous image.

Method:

Participants -

In total, 111 participants selected through convenience sample, comprising of 54 males and 57 females. The simplicity of the experiment enabled all participants to have an equal input regardless of factors such as age, gender and educational background. The convenience sample, although not being completely random, allowed for a reasonably even mix of age and gender due to the investigator sampling from a population mainly made of of friends and family.

Materials -

Two sets of five cards - One containing animal images, one containing images of faces and both containing the ambiguous figuire.

Procedure -

1. 6 participants are randomly divided up into pairs and are tested under one of three different conditions. It is viral that each participant is tested individual out of both sight and hearing of other participants.

* Condition 1: The participants are shown animal cars sequentially and are required to name them verbally. After being shown images of a chicken, a rabbit, a dog and a cate, the participant is then presented with an ambiguous images and asked what they see. The ambiguous image is a cleverly drawn illustration that can be seen as either a rat, or a man's face depending on how one perceives it.

* Condition 2: The procedure undertaken for condition 2 is almost identical to condition 1, except the cards with animals printed on them are substituted with cards showing human faces. The ambiguous image remains the fifth cards.

* Condition