Inversion Goggles Activities
Title
Contents
Slide 3
Introduction to Inversion Goggles
Slide 4
Important Guidelines
Slide 5
Practice Makes Perfect – Is It True?
Slide 6
continued
Slide 7
maze (to print out)
Slides 8 - 9
Suggestions for Activities using Foam Balls (1 – 4)
Slide 10
Suggestions for other Activities (5 – 6)
Slide 11
Activities involving movement whilst wearing the
Goggles (7 – 8)
Slide 12
Things to Think About
Introduction to Goggles
These plastic safety goggles can be used to show how the brain
deals with distorted visual inputs and how quickly we can adapt to
this incoming visual data.
Vision through the goggles is completely inverted, so everything
viewed appears to be upside down.
IMPORTANT GUIDELINES
Important Guidelines
Please read before beginning activities using the goggles
Take care NOT to drop the goggles as this could damage the prism.
Do NOT wear the goggles for more than 15 minutes at a time as perceptual
distortions can last for up to another hour after removing the goggles.
Only stand up wearing the goggles in a clear open space away from desks,
chairs etc and have someone standing close by in case of overbalancing.
Do NOT run wearing the goggles.
When throwing the foam balls to someone wearing the goggles ALWAYS
throw underarm.
Practice Makes Perfect?
The inversion goggles should NOT be worn for long periods. However,
you can investigate whether practising for a few minutes every day
improves your ability on a visual task.
You might like to try:
• reaching out for an object held up in front of you
• shaking hands with someone standing in front of you. After
perfecting this task, swap hands to see if this is easier now you
have practised.
• sitting on the floor and try to catch a coin being rolled towards you.
continued
The inversion goggles should NOT be worn for long periods.
However, you can investigate whether repetition of a simple task
makes it easier.
You might like to try:
• writing your name on a whiteboard
• drawing a smiley face on a whiteboard
• making your way through a maze with a pencil. This is very difficult.
(printable maze on next slide)
Printable maze
www.uniview.co.uk
Suggestions using Foam
Balls 1 - 2
1.
One person stands in an open space wearing the goggles
and another person throws a ball to them underarm; they
have to try and catch the ball.
2.
If you have two sets of goggles then two people can throw
the ball to each other (virtually impossible!).
Foam Balls 3 - 4
3.
One person wearing goggles gets down on their hands
and knees in the middle of an open space; from the
corner of the room another person rolls the ball slowly
towards them so that they can attempt to reach it.
4.
Place an empty waste paper bin or similar in the middle of
the room and the person wearing goggles has to
throw the ball into the bin using one hand only. After
about 5 – 7 throws they should be able to get the ball into
the bin. Change the throwing arm and watch the
adaptation process begin again.
The person wearing goggles does not learn to see the visual
fields as displaced. They learn that they need to make new motor
responses to correspond to the new visual field. This shows that
the adaptation is of motor processes and not of visual processes.
Suggestions for Other Activities
5-6
5.
Place a selection of coins (or sweets) on a table. Lead the
person wearing the goggles over to the table and sit them
down. Tell them that they can keep the first coin (or sweet)
that they touch.
6.
Draw a circle on the board (diameter of about 8 cm / 3 in).
The person wearing goggles has to draw a cross in the
centre of the circle. As before, they will succeed after 5 – 7
attempts. Draw another circle on the board and ask them to
repeat the procedure with their other hand.
Once again, the brain produces an adaptive motor response with
the first hand but this adaptation will not be transferred to the
second hand: it must be relearned.
Activities involving
Movement 7 – 8
7. Clear a space in the room and draw a chalk line (or use a
piece of tape) and the person wearing goggles has to try to
walk along the line. Ensure that there is a responsible person
walking at the side to avoid accidents.
8. The person wearing goggles stands in the centre of a circle of
people. They have to walk over and shake hands with the
person in the circle who has their hand outstretched.
Things to Think About
Things to think about
Some of these activities are also suggested within the visual
distortion goggles presentation. If you have both types of
goggles, compare results of activities for the inversion goggles
and the lateral distortion goggles.
What do these activities tell you about how we adapt to
conditions where our brain experiences distorted sensory input?
Credits
Uniview Worldwide 2010
Contact
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