Confinement has no effect on visual space perception: The results of the Mars-500 experiment

0427685 - PSÚ 2015 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Šikl, Radovan - Šimeček, Michal
Confinement has no effect on visual space perception: The results of the Mars-500 experiment.
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics. Roč. 76, č. 2 (2014), s. 438-451. ISSN 1943-3921. E-ISSN 1943-393X
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GAP407/12/2528
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081740
Klíčová slova: visual space perception * perspective * Mars-500 * size judgment * size constancy * confinement
Kód oboru RIV: AN - Psychologie
Impakt faktor: 2.168, rok: 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-013-0594-y

People confined to a closed space live in a visual environment that differs from a natural open-space environment in several respects. The view is restricted to no more than a few meters, and nearby objects cannot be perceived relative to the position of a horizon. Thus, one might expect to find changes in visual space perception as a consequence of the prolonged experience of confinement. The subjects in our experimental study were participants of the Mars-500 project and spent nearly a year and a half isolated from the outside world during a simulated mission to Mars. The participants were presented with a battery of computer-based psychophysical tests examining their performance on various 3-D perception tasks, and we monitored changes in their perceptual performance throughout their confinement. Contrary to our expectations, no serious effect of the confinement on the crewmembers’ 3-D perception was observed in any experiment. Several interpretations of these findings are discussed, including the possibilities that (1) the crewmembers’ 3-D perception really did not change significantly, (2) changes in 3-D perception were manifested in the precision rather than the accuracy of perceptual judgments, and/or (3) the experimental conditions and the group sample were problematic.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0233206