Hunter-Gatherer Hypothesis

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Introduction

Binocular vision is vision using both eyes that have overlapping fields of view, therefore there would be differences in what the left and right eye. Binocular vision provides important information for depth perception and binocular cues are an essential aspect of certain visual tasks.

Other than sex differences in colour vision, it is assumed that there are no other sex differences in regards to vision. It is suggested that the sex differences of males and females in vision may be related to the different roles of males and females in early life. The hunter-gatherer hypothesis suggested that males were larger and more powerful and their role was to search for predators and prey. However, females may have better visual ability …show more content…

The length of the wire ranged from 60 to 80cm. The preferred shape of the buzz wire was discussed and a shape where the wire contained ‘three hills’. The wire also extruded horizontally away from the base of the buzz wire in order for the buzz wire to contain multiple dimensions and therefore challenge depth perception. An eye patch was also provided; this was used to cover the non-dominant eye of each participant.

Design

This was a within subjects design. The independent variable included 2 levels, the sex (male or female) and whether the participant used monocular or binocular vision. The dependent variable included two levels, time taken to complete the buzz wire challenge and the number of buzzes (mistakes) made. All participants did the task in the same order. Participants performed the binocular condition first, then used the eye patch to do the monocular condition. …show more content…

Mean Time (seconds) Standard Deviation
Binocular 21.93 9.33
Monocular 31.17 17.54

Table 1: Means and standard deviations for time taken in the binocular and monocular conditions

Firstly, we compared whether binocular performance was better than monocular performance The conditions were compared relative to time taken and buzzes. Table 1 compares the means and standard deviations of time taken in both the binocular and monocular conditions. The mean (standard deviation) times for the binocular and monocular conditions were 21.93 (9.33) and 31.17 (17.54) seconds, respectively. A paired samples t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the mean times of the binocular and monocular condition, t(73) = -6.75, p < .001.

Table 2: Means and standard deviations for buzzes made in binocular and monocular conditions Mean Buzzes Standard Deviation
Binocular 6.91 3.67
Monocular 16.69 8.42

Table 2 shows the means and standard deviations for buzzes made in both conditions. The mean (standard deviation) buzzes for the binocular and monocular conditions were 6.91 (3.67) and 16.69 (8.42) buzzes. Another paired samples t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the mean number of buzzes for the binocular and monocular condition, t(73) = -10.90, p <

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