Critique of "Distance Estimation with Night Vision Goggles: A Little Feedback Goes a Long Way"

Abstract

The Editor invited me to critique the previous article in a "critique-rebuttal" format. Consistent with an approach adopted earlier (Maddox, 1996), I aim to foster a positive and informative scholarly exchange. The article has several strengths. First, it addresses a topic that has practical importance. For example, night vision goggles (NVGs) have played an important role in military operations; it is critical that pilots make accurate judgments about depth and collision (e.g., DeLucia & Task, 1995). Furthermore, it is difficult to conduct research on NVGs; they are relatively costly and manipulations are constrained by available technology. Thus, studies on NVGs are important. Second, the authors' results regarding performance with NVGs extend those obtained without NVGs: (1) Reports of absolute distance can improve with training (e.g., Ferris, 1972; Gibson & Bergman, 1954); (2) Judgments of distance can vary with the orientation of the distance with respect to the viewer (Wagner, 1985). My comments focus on several aspects of the methods, and interpretations of the results.