Through training, skilled parkour athletes (traceurs) overcome everyday obstacles, such as walls, that are typically insurmountable. Traceurs and untrained novices estimated the height of walls and reported their anticipated ability to climb the wall. The traceurs perceived the walls as shorter than did novices. This result suggests that perception is scaled by the perceiver's anticipated ability to act, and is consistent with the action-specific account of perception.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChapanisAMankinD A, 1967“The vertical – horizontal illusion in a visually-rich environment”Perception & Psychophysics2249–255
2.
FingerF WSpeltD K, 1947“The illustration of the vertical – horizontal illusion”Journal of Experimental Psychology3243–250
3.
GibsonJ J, 1979The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates)
4.
JacksonR ECormackL E, 2007“Evolved navigation theory and the descent illusion”Perception & Psychophysics69353–362
5.
LinkenaugerS AWittJ KBakdashJ ZStefanucciJ KProffittD R, 2009“Asymmetrical body perception: A possible role for neural body representations”Psychological Science201373–1380
6.
SchnallSHarberK DStefanucciJ KProffittD R, 2008“Social support and the perception of geographical slant”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology41246–1255
7.
StefanucciJ KProffittD R, 2009“The roles of altitude and fear in the perception of height”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance35424–438
8.
WarrenW H, 1984“Perceiving affordances: Visual guidance of stair climbing”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance10683–703
9.
WittJ K, 2011“Action's effect on perception”Current Directions in Psychological Sciences20201–206
10.
WittJ KProffittD REpsteinW, 2005“Tool use affects perceived distance but only when you intend to use it”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance31880–888
11.
WittJ KSugovicM, 2010“Performance and ease influence perceived speed”Perception391341–1353
12.
YangT LDixonM WProffittD R, 1999“Seeing big things: Overestimation of heights is greater for real objects than for objects in pictures”Perception28445–467
