Is Size Misperception of Targets Simply Justification for Poor Performance?

Abstract

Recent studies show that those who perform poorly on sporting activities involving targets recall the target as smaller than do better performers. Some have attributed the effect to action-specific perception, suggesting perception is influenced directly by how one interacts with an object. We proposed that underestimation of target size may instead serve as a justification for poor performance. We found that inaccurate dart throwers, given an excuse that the darts were of poor quality, were less likely to recall the target as smaller. The findings extend research indicating that perception is influenced by motivational factors, and provide further evidence that size estimates can be distorted by memory errors.