ADAPTATION TO SPEED DISTORTIONS UNDER WATER

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Abstract
A diver's face‐mask normally makes close objects in clear water appear both enlarged and too near. Objects travelling across the line of sight therefore appear to move faster than in air, and objects moving along the line of sight slower. Subjects estimated the speed of a moving rod in air and water, before and after a 10 min. period spent swimming and playing a pegboard game under water. Twenty subjects were tested with the rod moving across, and 20 with it moving along, the line of sight. In both conditions subjects showed the expected directions of speed distortion in water, with significant adaptation and after‐effects after 10 min. submersion. The results are consistent with the assumption that the type of speed perception measured here is largely dependent on size and distance perception, and that speed adaptation follows automatically from the correction of the spatial metric.

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