Publication Date

1991

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Hershberger, Wayne A., 1931-

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

LCSH

Learning; Psychology of; Perceptual-motor learning

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to test hypotheses derived from a theory of intersensory coordination known as the directionality-of-guidance (DOG) model. The present study, involving perceptual adaptation, tested the theory by using a novel experimental method which provided test data that are independent of those experimental data from which the theory was initially derived. Twenty subjects performed pointing tasks in the dark; they were able to detect prismatically induced errors only during a flash of stroboscopic illumination which occurred at the end of their pointing movements. They performed two tasks. One task (E -> H) required subjects to look at some self-selected position either to the left or right of center in the horizontal plane and then point to that same position. In this task the eye-head sensori-motor subsystem is guiding the hand- head sensori-motor subsystem. The DOG model predicts that adaptation should occur in the hand-head sensorimotor subsystem yielding manual adaptation. The other task (H -> E) required subjects to point their hand at some self-selected position either to the left or right of center in the horizontal plane at arm's length and then look to that same position. In this task the hand-head sensori-motor subsystem is guiding the eye- head sensori-motor subsystem. The DOG model predicts adaptation should occur in the eye-head sensori-motor subsystem yielding visual adaptation. The present results are consistent with the DOG model's prediction that the E -> H task should yield more manual adaptation than the H -> E task. The present results are not consistent with the DOG model's prediction that the H -> E task should yield more visual adaptation than the E -> H task. However, an analysis of the results suggests that this was due to the differences in difficulty between the two tasks; that is, the more difficult E -> H task often became a E -> H -> E task.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [73]-78)

Extent

124 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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