Well, not exactly...
Today I volunteered for an experiment (I can't say with who) to test estimation of distance in a night vision environment. TRES COOL!
Basically, I was in a simulated 'dark room' and I had to stare at a computer screen and judge the distance in metres between two dots on the screen. One metre is just over three feet, for you Americans out there.
So I made the assumption that all the distances were between 1-9 metres apart, well you know what they say about people who "assume", right? (You make an ASS out of U and ME). Each round consisted of about 25 instances where I had to judge the distance.
The first round - I punched in the numbers and got no feedback as to how close I was, I mean really, the dots looked REALLY close together. Plus, I wasn't given a reference point, so I really was flying by the seat of my proverbial pants.
The second round - I punched in the numbers and after each time I input the numbers the real answer would come up. So things that I thought in the first round were 2 metres apart were actually 18...oops.
The third round - I punched in the numbers and, again, got no feedback. But I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Overall, the experiment was really interesting and proved that I have absolutely no sense of distance estimation. :P
I have to go again next Thursday and then again in a month. On the upside, I get paid for basically getting everything wrong. While it's not a King's ransom, it's an extra $40 that I didn't have before, and any money that I get from these experiments is going in the "loonie/toonie" jar. :)
When I left, I asked the scientist if she had any other projects on the horizon or knew of anyone else that did. She said she would poke around and get back to me...by the time I got home from work today, I already got an email from her thanking me for my participation and with information for another project to do. Woo! Basically once I have my foot in the door, it opens up for more and more tests/experiments/research projects.
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6 comments:
Awesome!! I used to do these all the time when I was at McGill. To a struggling student, the money meant a lot.
Oh, I would be miserable at that one. I am lousy at estimating distance in specific terms.
Sound more fun than sitting around a table talking about the texture of shampoo. Those are the only panels I've done.
Be sure to decline if they mention anything about testing lubricants ;)
How did I know your mind would go *there*? :P
That's cool. I like doing experiments. I haad to do some things like that for a cognitive psychology class I took.
Also, I've tagged you. If you want to participate, go to my blog and check out my Book meme.
That sounds cool. I did some sleep experiments in university, but that is about all.
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