Another story that might bring a little more light to the learning of perception is that of an anthropologist who visits a tribe of people who live in a forest. These people have never seen objects that were far away and therefore never developed the visual tricks at perceiving things far away. One of the people (Kenge) from the tribe went with the anthropologist to an area with a vast plain. The man from the tribe commented on the little insects that he saw on the horizon. When the anthropologist realized that the Man was talking about buffalo grazing miles away he explained that they were not bugs but large buffalo. The man from the forested tribe did not believe him until they drove to the herd of buffalo clearly showing that the bugs he saw were indeed buffalo. Remember this man was not stupid he simply never had developed his skills at differentiating far away objects from closer ones (Myers, 2000).
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Also observe that the mountains have a bluish tint that is a result of the atmosphere in-between the mountains and the camera reflecting light. This cue is also a learned distance identifier (Myers, 2000).
Depth perception also seems to be an innate trait for many animals however, it still is debated whether it is learned or comes during a certain developmental stage. The fact that different animals acquire this ability at different stages of development points to it being an innate ability some can avoid drop-offs at birth. In the past this ability has been tested by using a glass table like the one shown below (Hock, 1999; Myers, 2000).
The fact that much of our perception is learned makes it very hard for people who didn’t have sight during development to make sense of the world when they are given sight. For example, people who had cataracts as children and had them taken out as adults have trouble relating the visual world with the touch world they know so well (Myers, 2000). One such example is of a man who regained his sight and tried to bend out a multiple story building to touch something on the ground.