Abstract
The present study is a developmental one which was carried out to investigate the effect of both the meanings and the directions of the figures on the apparent movement, from the standpoint of the physiognomic perception.
Exp. 1. The purpose of the present experiment is to examine the apparent movement of the four kinds of figures;‘circle’,‘triangle’,‘standing horse’, and ‘running horse’. The circle and the triangle are both the gemetrical figures, while the standing horse and the running horse are considered meaningful figures. The standing horse can connote a static meaning, while the running horse can a dynamic meaning. The triangle was presented in the same direction as that of the apparent movement, and again in the direction opposite to it. Both the standing horse and the running horse were presented in the same direction, in the opposite direction, and in the upward direction. Therefore the number of the stimulus figures was nine.
The first stimulus and the second stimulus were presented simultaneously or successively at the spatial interval of 12 cm. for 200ms. The time interval between the first stimulus and the second stimulus was changed by the method of the minimum changes. The values of the measurement were three values of lower limit, upper limit, and range of the optimal movement phase. The subjects consists of two groups, the first grade children of primary school as a younger group and the university students as an older group.
Conspicuous differences could be found between groups and among figures in the upper limit value and in the range value, but not in the lower limit value. The major findings in the upper limit value and in the range value are as follows:
(1) The degree of the apparent movement with all of nine figures is greater in the younger group of subjects than in the older group.
(2) In each of the four kinds of figures, the apparent movement occurs more strongly in the figure of the same direction than in the figure of the opposite direction or of the upward direction.
(3) Among the figures of the same direction, the apparent movement occurs more strongly in the order of ‘running horse,’ ‘standing horse’, ‘triangle’, and ‘circle’.
(4) As to the figures of the opposite direction and of the upward direction, the apparent movement occurs more strongly in the same order as that among the figures of the same direction.
(5) It is only in the younger group that the trends stated above (2, 3, 4) could be found so strongly.
Exp. 2. The purpose of the present exper-iment is to reexamine the effect of the meanings and the directions of the figures on the apparent movement, independently of the design of the figure. The stimulus figures were the four figures of bird of the same direction', ‘bird of the opposit'e direction’, ‘bird of the upward direction’, and ‘flower’. Each of the figures has an equal area and the same outline, but their meanings and directions were made different, from each other by changing the complexity of designs within.
The major findings are as follows: In the case of the younger group, the apparent movement occurs more strongly in the order of ‘bird of the same direction’, ‘bird of the opposite direction’, ‘bird of the upwaid direction’, and ‘flower’, while, in the case of the older group, the apparent movement occurs more strongly in the order of ‘bird of the same direction’, ‘flower’, ‘bird of the opposite direction’, and ‘bird of the upward direction’, However, the differences of the apparent movement among the figures were conspicuous and significant in the younger group, but not in the older group.
