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Re: Physics Myth (?) #1



Tom Sandin asks:

Some experimental psychologists, knowing that the eyes form an inverted
real image on the retina and that the mind then inverts the image so that
we see things upright, fitted human subjects with an optical system that
added another inversion, so that the real image on the retina was
upright. The mind at first continued to invert the image, so the subjects
perceived what they saw as upside-down.
Then, after a period of time (how long?), the mind stopped its inversion
and the subjects saw things upright again.
Finally, the psychologists removed the optical system. At first things
appeared to be upside down (as the mind continued not inverting), but then
the mind started inverting again and the subjects were back to normal.

This experiment was done by Ivo Kohler (sp?) and colleagues sometime
in the early 1960s, I think. In addition to inversion, they looked at
the effect of prisms, which create lateral displacement and color
fringes on objects, and colored filters. To a remarkable extent the
subjects were able to adapt to the changes and function normally.

Scientific American published an article by Kohler sometime in the
'60s, and presumably there were journal publications as well. Sorry I
can't be more specific, but someone from a university psychology
department might be able to provide references.

Stan