Ecological Approach to Perception Quiz

The Ecological Approach

• The ecological approach focuses on studying moving observers and how their movement creates perceptual information that guides further movement and helps observers perceive the environment.
• The movement of an observer creates optic flow, which is the movement of objects past the observer when looking out the side window or at the road ahead.

Optic Flow

• Optic flow has two characteristics:
  • The gradient of flow, which is more rapid near the moving observer and slower farther away, providing information about how fast the observer is moving.
  • The focus of expansion (FOE), which is the absence of flow at the destination point, indicating the place where the observer is moving towards.

Examples of Optic Flow

• When driving down the street, the movement of the car creates optic flow, with the road and objects on the side of the road appearing to move past the observer.
• When crossing a bridge, the sides and top of the bridge and the road below appear to move towards the car, creating optic flow.
• For an airplane coming in for a landing, the optic flow lines indicate the place where the plane will touch down on the runway if it maintains its present course.

Self-Produced Information

• Self-produced information is the idea that a person's movement creates information, which is then used to guide further movement.
• Examples of self-produced information include:
  • When driving, the movement of the car provides flow information, which is used to help steer the car in the right direction.
  • When doing a somersault, the movement of the body creates information that is used to guide the body's rotation and orientation.