ACCURACY, VARIABILITY AND SPEED OF ADJUSTING AN INDICATOR TO A REQUIRED BEARING.

Abstract : The report is one of a series on the judgment of bearing, or angular orientation about the center of a circular display. A knowledge of how these judgments of bearing are made, their accuracy, their variability, their speed, is basic to the understanding of one of the fundamental perceptual tasks in the CIC'S. In the studies reported here, the subjects were shown a large circular display on which was a line of light (similar to a bearing cursor). They were told a certain bearing and their task was to adjust the line of light to what they thought was that bearing. They were allowed all the time they wished, but their time to adjust was recorded. All six subjects showed a surprising degree of accuracy even though the display contained no grid or other indication of bearing. This accuracy was greatest and variability least at the vertical, and the horizontal. There was also an increase in accuracy and a decrease in variability in the region of 45 degrees. (Author)