On the Support that the Special and General Theories of Relativity Provide for Rock’s Argument Concerning Induced Self-Motion

Abstract

Though Einstein and other physicists recognized the importance of an observer being at rest in an inertial reference frame for the special theory of relativity, the supporting psychological structures were not discussed much by physicists. On the other hand, Rock wrote of the factors involved in the perception of motion, including one’s own motion. Rock thus came to discuss issues of significance to relativity theory, apparently without any significant understanding of how his theory might be related to relativity theory. In this paper, connections between Rock’s theory on the perception of one’s own motion, as well as empirical work supporting it, and relativity theory are explored.