EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF ADAPTATION TO VISUAL REARRANGEMENT DERIVING FROM AN ORGANISMIC-DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH TO COGNITION

Abstract

Visual and tactual-kinesthetic indications of apparent verticality and apparent body position under erect posture were made by 16 Ss [subjects] prior to, following, and during the course of adapting to a 20[degree] clockwise rotation of the visual field. Ss adapted under one of two conditions: a "body-directed" condition where Ss viewed and were directed toward their body, and an "object-directed" condition where Ss viewed and were directed toward objects. Significant changes in apparent verticality and apparent body position were found in both the visual and tactualkineftthetic modalities. In the visual modality the relative location of apparent verticality and apparent body position varied dependent upon the directedness of the adaptation condition. The results are interpreted within en organismic-developmental theory.