Does vision guide stair climbing? a developmental study

Abstract

Perceptual judgments relating to stair climbing were examined in two experiments. In the first, tall and short male observers from three age groups (9 years, 12 years, and adults) judged from projected images whether they could climb steps of different heights. They also rated the difficulty of doing so, and adults made certainty ratings about their judgments. Both adults and children perceived that higher steps were less climable and more difficult to climb than lower ones but, unexpectedly, there was no difference between their judgments according to standing height. Smaller intervals between steps were used in the second experiment with 12-year-old boys who made perceptual judgments about real steps either after attempting to climb them or without such experience. Although there was a general tendency to overestimate the height of steps that could be climbed, practice in climbing reduced this tendency. It was concluded that feedback from performance is one of several possible factors that contribute to the relationship between perceptual judgments and action capabilities of children.