tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post6313559590150646602..comments2008-05-28T09:34:53.046-05:00Dan Petersonhttps://profiles.google.com/103541973167597641960noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post-22284717428607116822008-05-28T09:34:00.000-05:002008-05-28T09:34:00.000-05:00Rob, thank you for the great insight! As an amateur hack on these topics, I really appreciate the type of educated perspective that you can bring. For other readers, please check out Rob's work at www.istadia.com for a great community of like topics and thinkers.Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513577852777459762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post-38689595808114313812008-05-28T06:57:00.000-05:002008-05-28T06:57:00.000-05:00The ecological versus information processing debate in perception is an interesting one that is quite close to my heart. When I studied psychology at Edinburgh, we were very much an ecological department. We had a large group of researchers and lecturers studying perception and action from infancy onwards. The point of interest, as I remember it, was whether the calculations were too complex to be processed.<BR/>Experiments showed that humans are able to perceive "time to impact" with very limited information in a very short time, and that led to the development of the Tau function.<BR/>Key to the debate is the differing view of what information the world presents to us, as you mention, versus what we process. The IP approach insists that the information in the world is impoverished and the brain make sense of it, whereas the ecological approach says that the world is full of rich information, and the brain is less of an executor - more of a perceiver of "affordances" (e.g. an affordance presented by water might be "drink").<BR/>Anyway, without going back to the books, that's how I remember it....robhttp://www.istadia.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post-66464975365465775762008-05-27T13:32:00.000-05:002008-05-27T13:32:00.000-05:00Wow, didn't know that book existed! Thanks for the insight. As an avid baseball fan, I will have to check it out.A.C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08992102145444025963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post-16217174783245844252008-05-23T22:42:00.000-05:002008-05-23T22:42:00.000-05:00Thanks, Etta! Amazing that a 9 year old's brain can handle a task like that, but rocket scientists are stumped!<BR/>DanDan Petersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513577852777459762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873119327808729601.post-21701472992061406112008-05-23T22:22:00.000-05:002008-05-23T22:22:00.000-05:00Great post! As a former center fielder, I love that NASA info about catching the fly ball! Thanks.ettahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03219707615509312543noreply@blogger.com