Re: [photo-3d] seeing 3-D: innate

[Ron Beck <rbeck@xxxxxxxx>]

It's hard to judge these things with infants.  I would expect that an
infant any younger than six months would have a hard time crawling
around let alone fear falling off a 3x3 cube.  I know that my kids were
not all that mobile at their early ages.

I also understand that infants (0-3 months) don't distinguish color
shades very easily.  Hence the plethora of black/white mobiles and other
toys specifically designed for that infant group.

Now, based solely on observations of my three kids, I recall that they
began to show interest or pay attention to objects suspended above them
while lying in their crib at about 3 months or so.  Could they percieve
the space distance between their  hands and the Pooh characters floating
above them?  I don't know.  Conversation at that age is pretty much one
way for the most part.

I've heard of the "checkerboard" test before and I would be interested
in a more in-depth (no pun intended!) review of the experiment.  For
example, if a single color was used.  Or, if the depth were varied. 
And, what would the response of an adult be if they were to see a sudden
drop on the floor they were walking on.  It sounds like it could be an
interesting study.  Hmmm...maybe I could apply for a government grant.

Anyway, back to something closer to photo-3d.  I'm taking the kids to
the state fair this Thursday and hope to get some great shots with my VM
camera.  I'll report back when I get the roll developed.  

Regards,
Ron

Gabriel Jacob wrote:
> 
> Yes, that was an ingenious test, but it involved aprox. 6 month old infants.
> By then there visual senses are quite developed. That particular study was
> conducted around 1960 I believe. There have been other experiments done
> with younger subjects (I don't know if that was human or animal subjects!).
> 
> Gabriel
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   Robert A. Schreiber [mailto:bschreib@xxxxxxxx]
> Sent:   Tuesday, October 10, 2000 12:15 PM
> To:     photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:        [photo-3d] seeing 3-D:  innate
> 
>     Actually, one of the most famous studies in experimental psychology
> was designed to answer just this question.  Imagine a cube 3' x 3', with
> a checkerboard design on it..Then put a 3' x 6' piece of glass over it,
> so that the first 3x3 is on top of the cube.  The floor is then painted
> with the same checkerboard design...(I'm leaving out all the parts of
> the design to ensure safety)...And various animals, including crawling
> babies,  were put on the 3x3 cube.  If there were no 3-D, then you would
> expect equal time on both sides of the 3x6.  In fact, everything tested
> all have 3-D, and were scared to venture over the edge.
>     I remember this from undergraduate school, over 30 years ago, so
> most of the details are gone, but it's in almost every introductory
> psych book.
>     Our optic nerve has an optic chiasm at the base of the brain - half
> the information from each eye goes to the left hemisphere, and half to
> the right.
> Bob Schreiber