Sensory dominance : an experiment across cultures
- Authors: Locke, Hester W
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Perception -- Testing , Senses and sensation -- Testing , Dominance (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3214 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012744
- Description: Physical and intellectual differences in the home environment of Xhosa and White children suggested that the interaction of touch and vision in situations of sensory conflict and the development of dominance may be different in children from these homes. Children aged 5-13 years were tested on apparatus which created a conflict of tactual and visual judgement about the perceived size of the stimulus. Xhosa and White subjects performed similarly except when only tactual judgement was allowed and the Xhosa group were less influenced by touch. The study concludes that for children touch and vision contribute equally to the resolution of sensory conflict when both senses are active in size-judgements and when only one mode is allowed for judging then the resolution is biased towards this mode. This outcome is different from that of experiments with adults and has implications for theories derived from them.
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Effects of vigilance decrement on the recognition of embedded figures
- Authors: Daniel, Robert David
- Date: 1971
- Subjects: Perception -- Testing , Cognitive psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3202 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010961
- Description: Field independence was described by Witkin et al (1962) as the ability to separate an item perceived from its context. Here most experiments have used visually presented material where the subject was shown a simple geometrical figure and then a complex one containing the simple figure as part of it: the subject's task was to find and point out where the simple figure was hidden. Recent work has suggested that the skills involved in Witkin's tests might be associated with particular cultural backgrounds. This extension of Witkin's theory of field independence by Wober linked visual phenomena with those of a social and maturational nature: the ability to separate visual items from their context was shown to be aligned with the development of a sense of personal identity ; the person was considered to be an item set in a context or social field, be it family or society around him: an individual, depending on the way he was socialized as a child, may perceive the world analytically, if he did he was labelled field independent, if not he was field dependent. Intro. p.1.
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A study of the performance of a Bantu sample on a test of perceptual field-dependence under conditions of normal and abnormal sensory environments
- Authors: Cogill, Charles John
- Date: 1970
- Subjects: Perception -- Testing , Senses and sensation -- Cross-cultural studies , Bantu speaking peoples
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3201 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010503 , Perception -- Testing , Senses and sensation -- Cross-cultural studies , Bantu speaking peoples
- Description: For purposes of this background study, previous research findings relating to the development of the concept of field dependence - independence may be traced in five clearly distinct and logical stages: Stage 1: The Determination of the Factors Responsible for the Maintenance of Proper Orientation to the Upright. Stage 11: The Investigation of Individual Differences in the Manner of Establishing the Upright. Stage III: The Consideration of Possible Hypotheses to Account for Consistent Individual Differences in this Mode of Perception. Stage IV: An Investigation of the Relationship Between an Individual's Characteristic Way of Perceiving and his General Personality Organisation Stage V: The Ultimate Extension and Elaboration of this Work into the Construct of Psychological Differentiation which proposes that individuals are likely to function at a more differentiated or less differentiated level in many areas of behaviour. Some discussion of these stages is necessary to provide background for the present study. Chapter 1, p. 1.
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