ABSTRACT
James J. Gibson’s explanation of distance perception involved a reconceptualization of the nature of environmental space that animals visually perceive. One of the most important factors behind Gibson’s basic assertion that there existed psychophysical correspondences for the totality of perceptual dimensions was his reformulation of the concept of the proximal stimulus. A phenomenal effect in the psychophysical relation was always, excluding color, a simulation of the optical image. Berkeleians, nativists and Gestalt psychologists all assumed that the optical basis for visual perception was deficient in some sense and therefore required either organization or supplementation or both. When Bishop George Berkeley is careful, he also opposes the “judgment” theory. In assuming that all the properties of the visual world, no matter how complex, subtle, or global, have specific stimulus correlates, Gibson concluded that no contributory process was required in an explanation of perceptual experience.
