Research Journal

Sunday, May 4, 2008

I did the finishing touches on my Power Point presentation. I made sure I had included all of the information I had wanted to share, and that all the slides were in order.


Friday, May 2, 2008

I analyzed the data I had received from the subjects and created a graph that would represent the results.


Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I finished collecting data from the remaining subjects--I had gathered the information from ten subjects, as I'd hoped.

Monday, April 28, 2008

I began the initial testing stages of my project. I retrieved data from my subjects and recorded it anonymously.


Saturday, April 26, 2008

Today I finished the Power Point. I arranged the slides randomly so that the amount of time the image would appear on the screen was not in any particular order. I decided to alternate two different negative images so that the subject's eyes would not adjust to the same image and skew the results.


Friday, April 25, 2008

I began working on the PowerPoint that I'd be using to run my experiment. I found a negative image of the American flag with a cross in the center (for focusing the eyes on one position and preventing excessive movement). I don't know if repeating the same image will influence the results of the experiment, so I amy search for another negative image to alternate with the current image I have of the American flag.

For my experiment, I intend to study aprroximately ten subjects (ideally five male and five female). I will prepare a PowerPoint in advance with the negative images. Each trial the image will stay on the screen for a prescribed period of time, ranging from one to sixty seconds. Originally, I was planning to arrange the slides so that the image times would progress incrementally. I realized, however, that showing these images at random time intervals will increase the reliability of the experiment and reduce the effects of the subjects' expectations.

I still need to design a questionnaire that will allow me to evaluate the perceived intensity of the retinal [negative] afterimage. I was under the imprssion that Steven's Power Law did not provide a scale for measuring perceived intensity. Perhaps I will implement a scale from one to ten or one to one hundred. This will make deriving a formula from my results easier.


Wednesday, April 23, 2008


Steven's Power Law has made me curious about the impact of time on the perceived intensity of a retinal afterimage. I hope to conduct a study using a group of subjects that will determine whether or not there is an equation analogous to Steven's Power Law in terms of time.


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I have finally decided to do my project on retinal afterimages. This is a topic that relates both to physics because it involves optics and vision as well as psychology because it deals with perception.


Friday, April 18, 2008



Ideas

retinal afterimage-saturation of vision

Steven's Power Law--[psi](I)=kI^a

[psi](I)=sensation magnitude
k=proportionality constant
I=magnitude of physical stimulus
a=constant based on modality


Friday, April 11, 2008



Ideas

blind spots

optical illusions


Monday, March 10, 2008

My intitial project idea was to perform research on blind spots. After looking up information on the Internet regarding blind spots, I discovered that scotoma (the physiological blind spot) and the automobile blind spot had nothing to do with each other. As a result, I have abandoned my idea to research the corrleation between the physiological and automobile blind spot.