Final answer:
The "visual cliff" experiment aimed to understand when infants develop depth perception, establishing it occurs as they gain mobility and continues to develop throughout early childhood.
Step-by-step explanation:
The "visual cliff" experiment was designed to investigate at what age infants start to develop depth perception. This classic research used a setup where an apparent drop-off separated clear, solid ground from a "cliff" section covered by glass. Infants' willingness to crawl over the glass-covered section indicated whether they perceived the drop. It was found that depth perception begins to develop only after an infant becomes mobile and continues to mature in early childhood.
These findings also tie into broader insights on how our perceptions are shaped by experiences and cultural contexts. Studies on binocular vision, cross-cultural visual illusions, like the Müller-Lyer illusion, and adaptation to inverted visual fields through prism glasses all illustrate that our perception can be affected by various external factors.