Abstract
Using a psychophysical method of adjustment, 175 Ss, ranging in age from 3 to 20 years, made four adjustments each of a luminous line to subjective vertical, horizontal, and 45-deg tilts in the dark. There were no significant differences in mean errors of adjustment to the vertical and horizontal over the ages tested. There were significant differences in intra-S variability of adjustment to the horizontal and vertical, with the greatest improvement occurring before age 10. Older children and adults produced significantly larger mean errors of adjustment to the 45-deg tilt than did the younger children; but the variability of settings by younger children was very high, indicating that they did not discriminate the 45-deg tilt more accurately than the older groups. The intra-S variability at all ages showed that adjustment was more accurate to the horizontal and vertical than to the 45-deg tilt.
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We are indebted to the Psychology Department at Mount Holyoke College for the loan of the apparatus; to John Volkmann for his advice and support throughout the research; to Grace Craig for her statistical expertise; to Lewis P, Lipsitt for his comments on an earlier form of this research conducted at Brown University; and to Dana Prizer for her help in running Ss.
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Volkmann, F.C., Pufall, P.B. Adjustments of visual tilt as a function of age. Perception & Psychophysics 11, 187–192 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210373
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210373