Abstract
The present study is a developmental one which was carried out to investigate the effect of both meaning and direction of figures on their apparent speed, from the standpoint of physiognomic perception.
Exp. 1. The purpose of the present erperiment is to study the apparent speed of three figures of ‘triangle’,‘hand’ and ‘moon-rocket’. The ‘triangle’ is merely a simple geometrical figure. The ‘hand’ has a static meaning but points to a particular direction. The ‘moon-rocket’ has a dynamic meaning and also points to a particular direction. Each of them was presented in both direction of upward and downward. Upward direction coincides with the direction of movement, but downward direction does not. Each of figures is compared with the standard figure which is white circle of 3cm in diameter moving upward at a constant of 15cm/sec. The subjects consist of two groups, the first grade children of primary school as a younger group and the university students as an older one.
The major findings are as follows:
In the case of younger group, distinct differences which are significant statistically were obtained among figures.
1. As to the upward direction, tIK: apparent speed is faster in the order of ‘moon-rocket’,‘hand’ and ‘triangle’.
2. As to the downward direction, the order of apparent speed is the same as that found in upward direction
3. The apparent speed of the upward direction is more speedy than that of the downward direction.
But, in the case of older group, distinct differences couldn't be found among figures.
Exp. 2. The purpose of the present experiment is a comparison of apparent speed of three figures of ‘upward bird’,‘downward bird’ and ‘flower’ with each other. In this experiment. it was possible to observe the effect of meaning and direction of figure on its apparent speed independently. Each of figures has an equal area and the same outline, but their meaning and direction is made different from each other by changing the complexity of design within.
The major findings are as follows: In the case of younger group, the apparent speed is faster in the order of ‘upward bird’,‘downward bird’ and ‘Tower’. But, in the case of older group, the apparent speed in each of the three figures is equal to each other.
