Question: Apparently there is a huge amount of misunderstanding concerning how the process of visual perception works. Specifically, many people believe incorrectly) that at least part of looking at things involves energy going out of the eyes rather than energy coming into the eyes. This misunderstanding, seem to be more common among children than among adults, but a surprisingly large number of college students still do not understand the process of seeing. Winer and Cottrell (1996) asked first-graders and college students to decide what happens when we look at something: does energy go out of our eyes, come into our eyes, or go both directions? The following frequency data are similar to those obtained by Winer and Cottrell. Do the data indicate a significant difference in the distribution of answers for the college students and for the children? Test at the .05 level of significance.

Into our Eyes Out of our Eyes Both Direction

First graders 45 40 15 = 100

College Student 75 20 5 = 100

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120 60 20