Perceptual Modification: Adapting to Altered Sensory Environments is about the study of human perception using a particular research strategy: the systematic alteration of vision or audition. It is assumed that by observing how the sensory apparatus copes with this disturbance it will be possible to formulate valuable hypotheses about the structure and development of ""normal"" perception and perceptual-motor coordination. The specific goals of this book are, first, to organize the vast and confusing literature on adaptation to perceptual rearrangement and, second, to assess its contribution to the understanding of ""normal"" perception and perceptual learning. The book begins with discussions of adaptation to small prism-induced displacements of the visual field. Separate chapters follow on the proposition that adaptation to prismatic displacement and other forms of rearrangement is actually a form of learning; adaptation to inverted and reversed vision; optical tilt; illusory motions of the visual field; size-depth distortions; and distortions of form. Subsequent chapters deal with studies of auditory rearrangement; examine individual and interspecies differences in adaptability; and the study of adaptation to the visual distortions encountered by the underwater observer. The book is written for researchers and graduate students in experimental psychology. It will be of value and interest whether the reader is a specialist in the area of perceptual modification, or indeed a generalist.

Preface1 Introduction The Early Experiments The Experimental Paradigm The Definition of Adaptation to Perceptual Rearrangement Later Studies The Specific Aims of Rearrangement Research The Organization of the Book2 Adaptation to Prismatic Displacement: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions The Visual Effects of a Wedge Prism Common Varieties of Prism Exposure The Necessity of a Stable Rearrangement Assumptions about and Awareness The Perceptual Situation The Role of Bodily Movement Informational Sources of Prism Adaptation Summary and Conclusions Addendum: a Comparison of Visual and Tactual Feedback as Sources of Prism Adaptation3 Adaptation to Prismatic Displacement: End Products The Immediate Effects of Prism Exposure The Long-Term Effects of Prism Exposure Summary and Conclusions4 Adaptation as Learning Characteristics of Learning and Adaptation The Effect of "Learning Variables" Necessary Conditions: the Motivation for Adaptation Summary and Conclusions5 Adaptation to Visual Transposition The "Problem" of the Inverted Retinal Image Studies of Transposed Vision A Hypothetical Subject's Initial Experience with Optical Inversion Three Aspects of Spatial Vision The Response of a Hypothetical Subject to Optical Inversion Reports from Actual Subjects Why so Little Evidence of Visual Adaptation? Theories of Visual Adaptation to Optical Transposition Summary and Conclusions6 Adaptation to Optically Induced Tilt Environmental versus Egocentric Orientation The Isolation of Adaptive Changes Egocentric Orientation The Problem of "Configurational Adaptation" Genuine Optical Tilt Adaptation General Findings and Theories of Optical Tilt Adaptation Summary and Conclusions7 Adaptation to the Loss of Visual Stability The Constancy of Visual Direction and Visual Position Mechanisms of Visual Direction Constancy (VDC) Mechanisms of Visual Position Constancy (VPC) Adaptation to the Loss of Visual Direction and Position Constancy Summary and Conclusions8 Adaptation to Distortions of Depth, Distance, and Size Adaptation to Distortions of Depth Adaptation to Distortions of Distance Adaptation to Distortions of Size Summary and Conclusions9 Adaptation to Distortions of Form Adaptation to Prismatically Induced Curvature Adaptation to Distortions of Closed Figures Summary and Conclusions10 Adaptation to Auditory Rearrangement The Early Studies Later Studies The Relationship Between Visual and Auditory Adaptation Summary and Conclusions11 Interspecies and Individual Differences in Adaptability Adaptation in Nonhuman Organisms Individual Differences in Human Subjects12 Adaptation to Underwater Distortions Varieties of Underwater Optical Distortion Visual Experience Underwater "Immediate" Adaptation to Underwater Distortions "Long-Term" Adaptation to Underwater Distortions Summary and Conclusions13 Conclusions: What Have We Learned? The Nature of Perceptual and Perceptual-Motor Plasticity The Nature-Nurture Issue Contributions to the Understanding of Perception and Perceptual-Motor CoordinationReferencesAuthor IndexSubject Index