Physiological Arousal Influence Distance Perception
Physiological arousal has been theorized to affect size perception in prior research (Geuss, Stefanucci, de Benedictis-Kessner, & Stevens, 2010). Geuss’s team of researchers employed jogging in place as well as counting backwards by sevens to induce physiological arousal in a subject, each in a different experiment of their 2010 study. Both continually jogging in place and counting backwards by sevens were found to induce physiological arousal (2010); the arousal level was measured using heart rate in beats per minute. The present study aims to use these two methods of physiological arousal inducement, except for a different purpose—to investigate how physiological arousal may influence distance perception. A counting backwards by sevens task
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After signing an informed consent form, participants will have their heart rate measured in beats per minute (bpm). Next, the experimenter will have the participant turn towards the wall, and the experimenter will place a cone at either 10m, 12m, or 14m (which will be randomized in order over 9 trials, or 3 trials for each distance). The participant will be asked to turn around, and view the cone’s distance from them for approximately 20 s, after which they will be blindfolded. Once the blindfold is applied comfortably and can completely obscure vision, the participant will walk to where they think the cone is located. Once they have stopped walking and have confirmed with the experimenter that they have made their report, the experimenter will use the tape measure running the length of the room to measure the participant’s distance report from their initial standing place to their end report. This method of ‘blind-walking’ to measure distance perception will repeat over 9 trials. Next, the experimenter take a heart rate measurement from the participant, and then will ask the participant to either count down backwards by 7’s from a random number between 200-300 or to jog in place at a moderate and steady pace. After approximately 90 seconds, the participant will be told by the experimenter to stop counting/jogging, and the distance perception report task that was
After signing an informed consent form, participants will have their heart rate measured in beats per minute (bpm). Next, the experimenter will have the participant turn towards the wall, and the experimenter will place a cone at either 10m, 12m, or 14m (which will be randomized in order over 9 trials, or 3 trials for each distance). The participant will be asked to turn around, and view the cone’s distance from them for approximately 20 s, after which they will be blindfolded. Once the blindfold is applied comfortably and can completely obscure vision, the participant will walk to where they think the cone is located. Once they have stopped walking and have confirmed with the experimenter that they have made their report, the experimenter will use the tape measure running the length of the room to measure the participant’s distance report from their initial standing place to their end report. This method of ‘blind-walking’ to measure distance perception will repeat over 9 trials. Next, the experimenter take a heart rate measurement from the participant, and then will ask the participant to either count down backwards by 7’s from a random number between 200-300 or to jog in place at a moderate and steady pace. After approximately 90 seconds, the participant will be told by the experimenter to stop counting/jogging, and the distance perception report task that was