title: The limits of visual mass perception.
abstract: The theory of direct perception suggests that observers can accurately judge the mass of a box picked up by a lifter shown in a point-light display. However, accurate perceptual performance may be limited to specific circumstances. The purpose of the present study was to systematically examine the factors that determine perception of mass, including display type, lifting speed, response type, and lifter's strength. In contrast to previous research, a wider range of viewing manipulations of point-light display conditions was investigated. In Experiment 1, we first created a circumstance where observers could accurately judge lifts of five box masses performed by a lifter of average strength. In Experiments 2-5, we manipulated the spatial and temporal aspects of the lift, the judgement type, and lifter's strength, respectively. Results showed that mass judgement gets worse whenever the context deviates from ideal conditions, such as when only the lifted object was shown, when video play speed was changed, or when lifters of different strength performed the same task. In conclusion, observers' perception of kinetic properties is compromised whenever viewing conditions are not ideal.
authors.affiliation: Baylor University, Department of Health, Human Performance, & Recreation, Waco, TX 76798, USA. joe_shim@baylor.edu
authors.forename: Jaeho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hecht
authors.forename: Jung-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dong-Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Yook
authors.forename: Ji-Tae
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D017770:Lifting; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014892:Weight Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D055815:Young Adult