You are in an arena watching a hockey game. Because your seat is closer to one end of the rink than the other, the goalie at the far end forms a much smaller image on your retina than the goalie at the other end. Despite this, you perceive both goalies as being more or less similar in size. What mechanism is responsible for this?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Size constancy is the perceptual mechanism that allows us to perceive objects as being the same size regardless of their distance from us, which explains why both goalies appear similar in size despite the difference in the image size on the retina.

You Are in an Arena Watching a Hockey Game