Question

Tom is placed in a dark room. A circle of light is projected on a screen and the circle rhythmically increases and decreases in size. According to the principle of size constancy, if Tom does not perceive the light as changing size, he will perceive it as __________.

a) Staying the same size
b) Expanding and contracting
c) Disappearing and reappearing
d) Growing and shrinking

Answer 1

According to size constancy, Tom will perceive the circle of light as staying the same size if he cannot see it changing in size, due to the brain's interpretation of distance and scale.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the principle of size constancy, if Tom does not perceive the light as changing size, he will perceive it as staying the same size. This perception phenomenon can be explained by the fact that our brains take into account the contextual cues about distance and scale in our environment, maintaining a consistent perception of size despite changes in the size of the image on the retina. This is similar to how objects at a distance appear smaller but we still perceive them as being their actual size due to our understanding of how distance affects apparent size.