The effect of viewing position on the perceived layout of space

Abstract

Eight observers judged the location of 13 objects in an open field by drawing a map of the scene, estimating absolute distances between objects, and rank ordering subsets of distances. Half the observers made judgments twice from the same position while the rest moved 90° around the scene before making the second set of judgments. Scaled judgments showed a strong visible similarity to the actual spatial layout of the scene. Observer judgments changed significantly as a function of observer position. A portion of this effect was due to a perceptual shortening of radial distances. These results were taken to support the classical psychophysical model of space perception rather than a strong ecological model and to emphasize the importance of the subjective element of visual space perception. © 1986 Psychonomic Society, Inc.