Basic Errors

Articles categorized under Basic Errors will stress some of the limitations of the information available for a perceiver. Specifically, we often make certain types of systematic errors when we judge depth/distance. For visual perception, we are more prone to such errors when our available information is limited – such as when visibility is poor (at night or in bad weather). We may also make larger errors if we must observe through an aperture. Two factors that are relevant in this context are: (a) our tendency to perceive objects as closer in depth to each other than is the actual case (i.e., the "Equidistance Tendency"); and (b) our tendency to perceive a given object as closer to us than its true distance (i.e., the "Specific Distance Tendency").