MICHOTTE S WORK ON AMODAL COMPLETION: A BRIEF HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 MICHOTTE S WORK ON AMODAL COMPLETION: A BRIEF HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL INTRODUCTION JOHAN WAGEMANS LABORATORY OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN, BELGIUM ECVP SYMPOSIUM, BELGRADE, AUGUST 27, 2014

2 Introduction Albert Michotte s work has stood the test of time continues to inspire current research Mainly 2 contributions perception of causality (and animacy) amodal completion Point of departure = usually deceptively simple, i.e., relatively straightforward aspects of our perceptual experience, like the fact that we can perceive causality we usually perceive partially occluded objects as partially occluded objects Michotte s contribution was to recognize the deep implications for the nature of perception to devise clever ways to investigate these phenomena in great detail

3 Albert Michotte ( ) briljant student, broad training 1897: started to study philosophy 1899: Master s thesis on physiology of sleep 1900: PhD on aesthetics of Herbert Spencer 1902: Ba in zoology 1904: 2 papers in physiology 1905: Habilitation s thesis on regional signs 1905: worked with Wundt in Leipzig : worked with Külpe in Würzburg 1912: full professor, teaching in philosophy, science and medicine : worked with Zwaardemaker in Utrecht on acoustical energy

4 Career: 3 major stages focus on higher mental processes, using systematic introspection distinguishes between 2 levels of mental activity: sensory experience and thought agrees with behaviorist critique on the limitations of introspection but does not agree with restriction of psychology to external behavior believes that it is possible to establish systematic relationships between stimuli and percepts discovers parallelism between his ideas and Gestalt psychology at ICP in 1923 (Oxford)

5 Rostock, 1928: Lewin, Katz, Werner, Katz, Köhler, Michotte, Rubin, Wertheimer

6 Yale, 1929: Spearman, Lashley, Claparède, Michotte, Koffka, Lewin, Rubin

7 Career: 3 major stages most fruitful period, most famous work conviction: we can perceive actions performed by objects or animate beings ( agents ) on one another in much the same way as simple kinematic movements topics: perception of causality phenomenal permanence ( tunnel effect ) apparent reality experimental phenomenology 1952: officially retired (at the age of 71) but continued lecturing until 1956 continued daily lab work until 1962 continued working at home until 1965 (died at the age of 84)

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9 Major works La perception de la causalité 1946: 1 st ed. (95 exp!) 1954: 2 nd ed. 1963: English translation Les compléments amodaux des structures perceptives 1964 (with Georges Thinès and Genéviève Crabbé) 1991: English translation

10 54 pp, translated from German, chapter for Handbuch der Psychologie, Band I/1, Bewustsein und Wahrnehmung. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

11 Amodal completion Modal completions have a strong phenomenal presence visual qualities Amodal completions have a less pronounced character no visual qualities

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14 Amodal completion Modal completions have a strong phenomenal presence visual qualities Amodal completions have a less pronounced character no visual qualities Perceptual inferences automatic not overruled by strong cognitive beliefs

15 Experimentation problem Illustration: my own Master thesis on direct versus indirect tunnel effect Indirect or cognitive approach: perception = interpretation of incoming information by means of intermediate, inferential processes Direct or ecological approach (Gibson): perception = direct pick-up of available information, without intermediate processes

16 Direct vs. indirect Michotte (1941, p. 301): un événement d ordre purement sensible, une donnée d expérience immédiate qui ne comporte en elle-même aucune élaboration proprement intellectuelle Burke (1952, p. 122): Is this merely a matter of belief or of knowledge based on past experience or is the continuity of the movement actually seen by the observer?... Levelt (1962, pp ): The braking influence was not perceived but inferred from the perceptual data, permitting understanding on the basis of acquired knowledge

17 Tunnel effect Wertheimer (1912) Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung Knops, 1947; Michotte, 1950a, 1950b, 1954, 1955; Michotte & Burke, 1951; Burke, 1952; Glynn, 1954; Michotte, Thinès, & Crabbé, 1964

18 My own variations Control or baseline condition Two conditions favoring a particular interpretation based on available information ( accretion and deletion of visual elements) direct One condition favoring a particular interpretation based on past experience, memory, and inference indirect

19 Control

20 Direct 1-object version

21 Direct 2-objects version

22 Indirect version

23 Results (% two responses) Control: 41% (small preference for 1) Occlusion-1: 12% (many more 1) Occlusion-2: 85% (many more 2) Memory: 84% (many more 2) Clear results No firm conclusions Open to criticism: truly perceptual or response bias? Sources: Wagemans & d Ydewalle (1987) Acta Psychologica (1988) Zeitschrift für Psychologie

24 Conclusions Modal and amodal completion Phenomena of central importance Conceptual clarification desirable Solid experimental approaches desirable

25 THANK YOU