Action-specific perception in rock climbing: The effects of skill level and task difficulty

The action-specific account of perception asserts that spatial perception is scaled by the perceiver's capabilities for action. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the effects of skill level and task difficulty on distance perception by rock climbers. Skilled (n= 15, Mage = 23.80 ± 2.70 years; rock climbing experience = 3.80 ± 1.74 years) and novice (n = 15, Mage= 22.73 ± 3.14 years; rock climbing experience < two months) rock climbers were asked to verbally estimate their distance to target holds on the indoor climbing wall. Climbing difficulty was manipulated by requiring the participants to wear a heavy backpack or taking it off (no-backpack condition) while judging their distances to the hold targets on the wall. The estimated distances as the dependent variable were analyzed by a mixed design (split-plot) analysis of variance with target distance and task difficulty as within-subjects factors, and skill level as a between-subjects factor. Results showed that the novices estimated the target distances to be farther compared to the skilled rock climbers. Furthermore, the participants perceived the target climbing holds on the no-backpack condition were easier to reach than on the backpack condition. For skilled and novice rock climbers, the distances looked farther on the backpack condition than on the no-backpack condition. The results generally suggest that individuals perceive the environment based on their capabilities to perform actions and that the action-specific perception is common to various types of settings, including indoor rock climbing.