PSYCHOPHYSICAL ANALYSIS OF VISUAL SPACE

John C. Baird '60.(Associate Professor of Psychology). NewYork: Pergamon Press, 1970. International Series of Monographs in Experimental Psychology, Volume 9. 321 pp.Illustrated. $10.50.

Artists, philosophers, and psychologists have long been interested in how we perceive and interact with the physical world. With the emergence of experimental psychology over a century ago, the problem of space perception has been rigorously investigated in scientific laboratories. One might expect that diligent work by many experimental psychologists for 100 years would enable them to make a clear statement as to how we see three dimensional space or as to how we make judgments about size and distance of an object in the environment. Unfortunately, however, this is not true. A mere accumulation of facts does not automatically organize itself into a digestable form of knowledge. Professor Baird's book, Psycholophysical Analysis of Visual Space, is an attempt to organize the massive set of data related to judgment of size and distance.

Because different studies were guided by different orientations and different theories, one needs a common framework to organize what is known. Mr. Baird argues that psychophysical analysis can serve as the common framework. Psychophysical analysis involves examining the relationship between the impingement of stimulus on a receptor system (technically called proximal stimulus) and judgments made by the observer. The impringement of stimulus energy in visual perception is the projection of the environment (two dimensional images) on the retina or inside the eyeball. With psychophysical analysis, Mr. Baird thus summarizes what is known and what is not known about size and distance perception. Following this, he offers his own theory and also a discussion of physiological correlate of space perception.

The book deals with a highly specialize topic in a very technical way. It cannot be recommended for casual bedside reading but the book is a must for serious students and researchers in space perception and ' psychophysics.

Associate Professor of Psychology at YorkUniversity in Canada, Mr. Ono teachescourses in space perception.