On post #26 I mentioned the concept of "reversion to original learning," which sometimes allows vehicle designers to anticipate potentially fatal mistakes by vehicle operators.
Although much less critical here, the notion is that every user has had original learning experiences with binoculars, which remain with him over time. As the theory goes, new binoculars modify or overlay old neuro-behavioral pathways, but never become quite as comfortable as the originals because adaptive effort is required to inhibit originally learned responses. A corollary is that unless one takes account of original learning, which most of us probably don't do, preferences can appear to be somewhat mysterious simply because certain devices are more similar to those we were originally weaned on.
In my case, original learning primarily occurred with Swaro products and I definitely have a tendency to revert to them. Leica owners have similar tendencies, which they refer to as the "Leica View." Fortunately, most early learnings transfer across manufacturers, but new or improved products face a gauntlet of re-adaptations, e.g., focus controls, open frame construction, distortion induced percepts, flat field eye movements, product shape, texture, grip, weight and balance, and so forth. All of these require relearning to some extent.
Now that I think about it, that may be why I prefer to select top quality equipment to begin with, and then use it until it becomes second nature (and falls apart).
Baka is good.
Just some food for thought. :eat:
Ed
Ed,
Trying to digest the concept of "reversion to original learning" but it's giving me some gas.
Is it age related? Are children's "neuro-behavioral pathways" more malleable than adults?
Perhaps not until they've reached a certain age. For example, "maturation levels". I remember one movie in my psych class that showed an adult pouring water from a tall flask into a short, wide flask. He asked the children, which has more water, the tall flash or the short. Most of the kids would say the tall one. They repeated the test with the same children a year later, and lo and behold, they all said that both flasks had the same amount of water. Some kind of "neuro-behavioral pathway" rewiring took place in their brains during that year that gave them a different perspective.
Children have less experience with everything than adults and have a natural curiosity about the world around them. They delight in exploring new surroundings, though the level of curiosity varies from child to child, as I recall from my own ability to stay in my seat from Kindergarten to sixth grade since I always found something more interesting going on out the window or in the clothes closet or on the floor.
Today, if a child won't stay in his seat and is more curious about what's going on outside the window or doodling in his notebook than what the teacher is writing on the board, they label him "ADHD" and give him a Ritalin capsule with his milk during snack time.
In seventh grade, we began changing classes after each "period" and were given a new teacher for each subject. My conduct marks improved and so did my grades, quite markedly, in fact.
I remember another movie in psych class where they left several children alone in a room filled with toys, and told them they could play with any of them, but under no circumstances were they to open the box on the table. Well, of course, it was only minutes before "Pandora" dropped the toys and went over to the box and opened it! Or was her name "Eve"?
Seems like as people get older they get more stuck in their ways (and perhaps corresponding "neuro-behavioral pathways").
I've bought and sold a fair number of binoculars over the years, though not nearly as many as some on these forums, and none of them were alphas, but I find myself going "backa" to the EIIs and SEs.
I primarily used porros for stargazing since they were preferred by amateur astronomers, and for the most part, still are since they are available in larger apertures and higher magnifications than roofs plus they are much less expensive.
Most amateur astronomers have a nice piece of change tied up in the telescope(s) and accessories so few can also afford to put out big bucks on an alpha bin that costs almost as much as their telescope, and they don't need bins that are waterproof down to 5 meters or that can be used as a javelin.
I never became "quite as comfortable" with roofs even though my first amateur astronomy bin was a Japanese made 9x63 roof with Abbe–Koenig prisms.
Porros always seem to fit my hands better and my expectations of what binoculars are supposed to look like (optics housed in a "dog legged body") and what the view through the optics should look like (good perception of depth and 3-D effect).
The first binocular I ever used was my father's 7x35 Sears porro, which was lost on a camping trip (somebody lost them, not mentioning names).
So it may be that my reversion to porros is due to my "neuro-behavioral pathways" or it could due to me wanting to get the best "bang for my buck".
Chewbacca