Here's what they look for:
* Development of depth perception: The visual cliff helps determine at what age infants develop the ability to perceive depth. This is done by observing whether they are hesitant to crawl across the apparent drop-off.
* Influence of experience: Researchers can manipulate the environment to see if experience influences depth perception. For example, they might observe whether infants who have had more crawling experience are more likely to avoid the visual cliff.
* Role of cues: The visual cliff helps to isolate specific visual cues that contribute to depth perception, such as texture gradients, relative size, and motion parallax.
* Cross-species comparisons: The visual cliff has been used to study depth perception in a variety of species, allowing for comparisons between different animals.
How it works:
The visual cliff is a simple apparatus that consists of a platform with a clear, glass surface. Half of the platform is over a solid surface, while the other half is over a drop-off, which is covered with a checkerboard pattern that creates the illusion of a cliff.
Here are some key findings from visual cliff research:
* Infants as young as 6 months old show hesitation at the edge of the visual cliff. This suggests that they have developed some depth perception by this age.
* Experience plays a role in depth perception. For example, infants who have been given more opportunities to crawl are more likely to avoid the visual cliff.
* Visual cues are important for depth perception. Infants are more likely to avoid the visual cliff when there are more visual cues present, such as a textured surface or a moving object.
The visual cliff experiment has been a valuable tool for understanding the development of depth perception and the role of experience and visual cues in this process.