Abstract
The optical distortion caused by wearing a facemask in water magnifies the angular size of objects and reduces their optical distance. However, objects generallyappear to be further than their optical distance, with the result that points in the left part of the visual field are apparently displaced to the left, and those on the right to the right. Experiments on hand-eye coordination under water showed that adaptation to one aspect of the distortion produced some counteradaptation to complementary aspects: adaptation to distance produced increased lateral distortion, and adaptation to one side of the lateral distortion produced increased distortion on the opposite side. Nevertheless, “trading” was incomplete, and some overall adaptation of the visual metric occurred.
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This research was conducted at the U.S. Naval Submarine Medical Center. Groton. Connecticut. while the authors were supported financially by the American Institute of Biological Sciences. We should like to thank Dr. J. A. S. Kinney, Dr. S. Luria, Mrs. C. MacKay, Mr. F. Ward, and Mr. H. Katz for much practical help and useful discussion. We should also like to thank Mr. R. R. Macdonald for help with computing at Stirling University.
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Ross, H.E., Lennie, P. Adaptation and counteradaptation to complex optical distortion. Perception & Psychophysics 12, 273–277 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207203
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207203