Extramission Theory of Vision
is a Misconception about Vision
Does something leave our eyes during vision? (many adults say "yes") is a good overview of the extramission theory of vision, along with psychological reasons for why people hold onto this misconception; written by Jeff Grabmeier, describing the research-based ideas of Gerald Winer and his colleagues.
This vision misconception has helped produce a metaphysical misconception about
the meaning of "observation" in quantum physics, and about the possibility
of "creating your own reality," as explained in Quantum
Physics, New Age Religion, and Schrodinger's Cat. Here are four relevant
paragraphs, which follow an introduction explaining that "oops, they used
a bad word" when they focused their attention on observation (which is misleading and causes many misconceptions) instead of interaction (which is a more accurate word).
visual observation is passive: Most
people think that seeing involves emissions from the eye, but this is a false
belief. When you see, you do not "send something out" from your eyes. Instead,
you see an object because light-photons move away from the object and into
your eyes. Your mind is actively involved with processing and interpreting
what you see, but the physical flow of matter/energy (and associated information)
is in one direction, from an external event into your eyes and mind, so
an event is not affected when you observe it. Here are three examples:
• When you look at a tree,
does your "act of observation" affect the tree? No. You see the
tree because light-photons move from the tree to your eyes, but nothing moves
from your eyes to the tree. Your passive observation is
not the active interaction described
in the Uncertainty Principle. If you shine
a flashlight on the tree so you can see it more clearly, the light-photons
will affect electrons in the tree's atoms, but nothing you have done as a
person (except pressing the flashlight button, which could be done by a trained
dog or mechanical robot) has affected the tree. ..... [•• two quantum-related examples
follow] .....
Loose language causes confusion. Unfortunately,
confusion is common in quantum physics interpretations because "observation" is
a term overpopulated with meanings, since it can mean: physical
interaction (when wave-particles interact), human
active intervention (by designing and doing an experiment), human
passive observation (to take information in through the senses) and human
consciousness (to process this incoming information). All scientists agree that (as
explained in Section 3C) the first two meanings play an important role
in quantum experiments, and (as explained above) that passive observation
is irrelevant; almost all scientists think that human consciousness
does not play any role in quantum phenomena and experiments.
Unfortunately, authors
can confuse readers by shifting from one meaning to another, and by taking
advantage of the common misconception (which the author may also believe?)
that the process of human vision produces an interaction with the object
being observed. This mistaken belief in an extramission theory of vision is surprisingly common, and in recent studies "at least one-third of college students — and maybe more — wrongly believe that something such as rays or waves go out of the eyes during the act of seeing." But this misconception about vision is raised to a new level of error in a Mystical Physics claim that when rays "go out of the eyes" they can time-travel back two weeks, as in a Time-Delayed Schrodinger's Cat Experiment. [note: In this paragraph the second link doesn't work because it's an internal same-page link, taking you to another part of the page where the "time-delayed mental experiment with the cat" is described.]
And here are web-pages about the misconception of extramission vision:
Student
Misconceptions in the Psychology Classroom — read the first two paragraphs
— by Stephen L. Chew (Samford
University), written for The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (2004); also available in RTF (word) or PDF by searching for "chew" in this links-page along with other fascinating articles from 2004, and if you like these you can search through essays from other years.
The misconception of extramission vision can be reinforced by the psychological
effects of feeling that you're "being stared at" because if you're feeling threatened
(or flattered,...) isn't it logical that the person who is staring
is "doing something
to you" instead of thinking
"it's all
happening
inside my head"? If you're curious you can find the original paper(s)
by Rupert Sheldrake, but I think it's best to begin with a commentary
on Sheldrake by Susan Blackmore.
• The
persistence of a misconception about vision after educational interventions —
this is a one-paragraph abstract — by Gregg
VR, Winer GA, Cottrell JE, Hedman KE, Fournier JS. (Dept of Psychology, Ohio
State University) published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2001)
• Fundamentally
misunderstanding visual perception : Adults' belief in visual
emissions — also an abstract — by WINER Gerald A. ; COTTRELL
Jane E. ; GREGG Virginia ; FOURNIER Jody S. ; BICA
Lori A. (Dept of Psychology, Ohio State University) published in The American Psychologist (2002)
To find more information, do web searches for [extramission vision theory misconception]
and similar search-string variations.
This page is
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/views/extramission.htm
Copyright © 2007 by Craig Rusbult
all rights reserved