Temporal Factors in Visual Perception: A Differential Approach

Traditionally, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive psychology were normative fields of study where investigators were interested in those aspects of the responses that are normal (common, shared). In the 70's a “new look” emerged where individual dserences were emphasized and paradigms were developed. The predicate for the work reported here follows from the notion that people with better spatial abilities often perform better in jobs that require such skills, while static vision acuity relates to the perception of small spots, fine lines, and grids. We hypothesize that there are other, perhaps equally important abilities ON WHICH INDIVIDUALS DIFFER, and we refer to them collectively as temporal visual factors. These are visual functions that operate faster (neurally) than static acuity and support such activities as real and apparent motion perception. We propose to report on the recent development of a computerized temporal acuity test battery. Separate empirical studies at three universities will describe how the different tests are shown to be stable over repeated measures, have high (r > .707) retest reliability, are factorially rich, and are largely uncorrelated with spatial acuity and intelligence. The tests all work on a 386PC, or better, and are transportable by disk.