Antarctic Isolation and Inversion Perception

Abstract

This pilot study sought to determine whether or not inversion perception conformity is enhanced by Antarctic isolation. The inversion perception stimuli consisted of 12 figure pairs. The task was to indicate one figure of each pair as appearing upside down. Subjects (N = 10) exposed to long-term Antarctic winter-over isolation demonstrated significantly greater focal point dependency than comparable control subjects (N = 10). Subjects (N = 7) exposed to short-term summer Antarctic isolation showed a tendency toward greater focal point dependency immediately following isolation and at later follow-up testing. Implications of this important adaptation to Antarctic living are discussed.