Reply to Engel and Dougherty

Abstract

WHILE examining the results found by Engel and Dougherty in their investigations of visual–auditory distance constancy¹, we noticed a simpler explanation than the one which they suggest. Broadly, their results (ref. 1, Fig. 1) lie parallel to the line which would apply if no account were taken of propagation time, but 50 ms lower. This suggests that, while observers have the ability to assess relative time of arrival of the stimuli, they have not developed the skill for interpreting this information; 50 ms, corresponding to 17 m, could be some sort of average based on the relative delays met in everyday life.