APAL "Sensitivity to changes in dynamic affordances for walking on land and at sea" Data Sets

We investigated the perception of affordances for walking along a narrow path.
We asked whether participants could perceive changes in affordances brought about by
manipulation of properties of the body, or of the environment, without direct practice of
the to-be-perceived affordance, and without external feedback about the accuracy of
perception. In Experiment 1, participants made a series of 8 judgments of how far they
could walk along a narrow path either, 1) without added weight, 2) while wearing a
weighted vest, or 3) while wearing weights on their ankles. Before walking, mean
judgments were lower when wearing weights than in the no-weight condition. In
addition, in both weight conditions judgments changed across the series of 8 judgments,
in the direction of greater accuracy. Control of the body in walking also can be
influenced by motion of the ground surface, as commonly happens in vehicles. In
Experiment 2, on a ship at sea, we evaluated the effects of walking with or without
weight added to the body at the ankles. We again asked participants (experienced
maritime crewmembers) to judge how far they could walk along a narrow path, with
versus without ankle weights. As in Experiment 1, judgments made before walking
mirrored the observed differences in walking performance. In addition, we again found
evidence that judgment improved (without walking practice, or feedback) over the series
of judgments. We conclude that participants were sensitive to (and spontaneously
learned about) how affordances for walking were influenced by changes in the
dynamics of body and the environment.