Eleanor Gibson's depth-perception research focused on which group?

Eleanor Gibson's depth-perception research focused on which group?

• A. Adults
• B. Infants
• C. Children
• D. Animals

Answer: (C)

Infants were the focus of Eleanor Gibson's depth-perception research. She and Walk devised the visual cliff, a glass-covered platform with a deep drop-off illusion on one side and a safe shallow surface on the other. Observing infants—usually around six to fourteen months old—as they were encouraged to crawl across, many avoided the deep side, indicating they could perceive depth. This work suggested that depth perception emerges early in development and is not solely learned through extensive crawling. While Gibson conducted related animal studies in other lines of inquiry, the depth-perception experiments that defined this research centered on human infants.

Infants were the focus of Eleanor Gibson's depth-perception research. She and Walk devised the visual cliff, a glass-covered platform with a deep drop-off illusion on one side and a safe shallow surface on the other. Observing infants—usually around six to fourteen months old—as they were encouraged to crawl across, many avoided the deep side, indicating they could perceive depth. This work suggested that depth perception emerges early in development and is not solely learned through extensive crawling. While Gibson conducted related animal studies in other lines of inquiry, the depth-perception experiments that defined this research centered on human infants.