Sedgwick H A
State University of New York, State College of Optometry New York, New York, NY, USA.
Iperception. 2022 Sep 4;13(5):20416695221118388. doi: 10.1177/20416695221118388. eCollection 2022 Sep-Oct.
The 11th-century Arab scholar, Ibn al-Haytham, in his , offers a detailed, rigorous, empirically oriented explanation of distance perception that may be the first essentially modern, scientific theory of distance perception. Based on carefully described experiments, he argues that for distance to be perceived accurately: (1) the distance must lie along a continuous surface such as the ground; (2) the continuous surface must be visible; (3) the magnitudes of distances along the surface must be perceived and calibrated through bodily interaction (walking and reaching) with them; and finally (4) the distance must be moderate. Al-Haytham's work reached Europe early in the 13th century, and his was the dominant theory of distance perception there for about 400 years. It was superseded early in the 17th century by a theory, based on cues such as convergence and accommodation, of distance seen through empty, mathematized space. Around 1950, an explanation of distance perception strikingly like that of al-Haytham was independently developed by J. J. Gibson, who called his theory the "ground theory" of space perception.
11世纪的阿拉伯学者伊本·海赛姆在其著作中，对距离感知进行了详细、严谨且以经验为导向的解释，这可能是首个本质上具有现代科学性质的距离感知理论。基于精心描述的实验，他认为要准确感知距离，必须满足以下条件：（1）距离必须沿着诸如地面这样的连续表面；（2）连续表面必须可见；（3）必须通过与表面的身体互动（行走和伸手够取）来感知和校准沿表面的距离大小；最后（4）距离必须适中。海赛姆的著作在13世纪初传到欧洲，在大约400年的时间里，他的理论一直是欧洲距离感知的主导理论。17世纪初，该理论被一种基于诸如辐合和调节等线索的理论所取代，这种理论适用于通过空旷的、数学化的空间所看到的距离。大约在1950年，J. J. 吉布森独立提出了一种与海赛姆的理论惊人相似的距离感知解释，他将自己的理论称为空间感知的“地面理论”。
