Most contemporary research on the perception of spatial layout (distance and slant) focuses on the geometric properties of the world, and how our visual system interprets and transforms these geometric properties. Previous research has identified factors besides geometry which influence our perception of distance and slant. The general idea is that when we are looking at the environment, our perception of its basic properties is influenced by our potential to act within that environment, and our intended actions.

Our research seeks to extend these findings into the real of mood and emotions. Can our mood or emotional state influence our perception of spatial layout?

Presence and immersion in virtual environments

What makes you feel like you are really "there" in a virtual environment? To create a successful virtual environment, we need to identify how we perceive and think about the real environment, and then apply this knowledge to the design of virtual environments.

We are interested in techniques which compare the perceptual biases that we can see in the real world to those that we see (or don't see) in virtual worlds. A perfect virtual environment would not be one in which the perceiver has a perfectly accurate perception of the environment, but one that which induces the same illusions and biases that we see in the real world.

History and philosophy of perception

As an undergraduate who majored in the history of science, I gained an appreciation of the importance of knowing and understanding the history of one's field. The field of perception has a particularly fascinating history, and this history often informs current research and theory.

My own interests in the history of perception include the tension between inferential/constructivist and ecological and embodied approaches to perception.

Intuitive physics

A number of tasks have been adopted to test people's intuitive understanding of physics. These tasks have met with surprising results. Instead of demonstrating comprehension of basic physics, many studies in the field of intuitive physics have shown that a large percentage of adults display a systematic misunderstanding about the simple principles which govern physical events (Champagne, Klopfer, & Anderson, 1980; Caramazza, McCloskey, & Green, 1981).

My research has focused on the role that age and individual differences in cognitive ability play on performance on intuitive physics tasks.

Relevant publications:

Riener, C., Proffitt, D ., & Salthouse, T. (2002, April) Intuitive physics: Across tasks and age. Poster presented at the bi-annual meeting of the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, Georgia. .ppt

Riener, C. R., Proffitt, D., & Salthouse, T. (2006) A psychometric approach to intuitive physics, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.