Ross Day

{{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Ross Henry Day | honorific_suffix = Hon DSc, Hon FAPS, FASSA, FAA | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date |1927|03|20|df=y}} | birth_place = Albany, Western Australia | death_date = {{death date and age |2018|10|22 |1927|03|27|df=y}} | death_place = Sale, Victoria | death_cause =  | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship =  | nationality =  | fields = Experimental psychology | workplaces = University of Western Australia, University of Bristol, University of Sydney, Monash University | patrons = | education = University of Western Australia | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = first psychologist elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = Grecian Snook | partner =  | children = | parents = | father = Harold Lindsay Day | mother = Dorothy Euphemia (née Currer) | relatives = | signature =  | signature_type =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Ross Henry Day''' (20 March 1927–22 October 2018) was an Australian experimental psychologist who investigated illusions and human and infrahuman sensory processes and perception and who was known for his formative role in the establishment of experimental psychology in Australia as Foundation Chair of psychology at Monash University in 1965. He was distinguished as the first psychologist elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, was the foremost founder of the Australian Psychological Society in 1966, and initiated in Australia investigations of human factors in engineering and ergonomics.

== Early life and education == Ross Henry Day was born into a comfortably middle-class family,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Professor Ross Day, psychology {{!}} Australian Academy of Science |url=https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-ross-day-psychology |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=www.science.org.au |language=en}}</ref> in Albany, Western Australia, on 20 March 1927, the son of Dorothy Euphemia (née Currer) and Harold Lindsay Day, who operated Day Brothers Bakery. After studying at Albany State Primary and Albany High School,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Professor Ross Day |url=https://www.albanyshs.wa.edu.au/page/151/Professor-Ross-Day |access-date=2025-08-30 |website=www.albanyshs.wa.edu.au}}</ref> and intending to study medicine,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Day |first1=Ross H. |last2=Workman |first2=Lance |date=10 November 2008 |title=Cognition and perception Experiments in space and time Ross Day, Australian octogenarian perception expert, in conversation with Lance Workman |url=https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/experiments-space-and-time |access-date=30 August 2025 |website=The Psychologist |publisher=British Psychological Society}}</ref> he undertook a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia over 1944–1949 where his interests in psychology developed, and there he met Grecian Snook (1927–2017), an historian, in the halls of residence. In 1948 while he was still his third year at the University of Western Australia, Dr. Alexander (Tim) Marshall gave him a staff position as Graduate Assistant (Associate Lecturer) in Psychology. He graduated with first class honours and was offered a position in New South Wales, but chose to remain in Western Australia.<ref>{{cite news |date=12 May 1949 |title=Albany Represented |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240566754 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |newspaper=Mount Barker and Denmark Record |location=Western Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=20 |issue=2265}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=20 April 1950 |title=Albany |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70517746 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |newspaper=The Albany Advertiser |location=Western Australia |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=23 |issue=2403}}</ref>

== United Kingdom == In 1949 Day was offered a teaching position at University of Bristol, England where he lectured 1950–1951 in Psychology, then in 1951 was appointed Research fellow in Psychology at Bristol,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250653535 |title=A.H.S. Notes |newspaper=The Albany Advertiser |volume=24 |issue=2573 |location=Western Australia |date=13 December 1951 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> while undertaking a PhD in perceptual aspects of human skill (1952–4) funded by the UK’s Air Ministry to investigate perceptual factors in piloting high performance aircraft. In England, Ross and Grecian married in July 1951,<ref>{{cite news |date=8 July 1951 |title=Wed In UK |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59530584 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth) |location=Western Australia |page=7 (Country Edition : Sporting Section) |via=National Library of Australia |issue=2784}}</ref> spent their honeymoon in Somerset and,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250646075 |title=Personal Notes |newspaper=The Albany Advertiser |volume=24 |issue=2529 |location=Western Australia |date=12 July 1951 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> while still in England, had a child.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2018-10-31 |title=Vale Ross Henry Day |url=https://www.monash.edu/vale/home/articles/vale-ross-henry-day |access-date=2025-08-30 |website=Vale |language=en}}</ref>

== University of Sydney == In 1955 Day took up a post as lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he set up a basic lab (later moved to a nearby factory) to investigate motion effects,<ref name=":3" /> and in 1962 he became Reader in Psychology and in 1964, the Chair of the Constitutions Committee of the Australian Psychological Society (FAPsS) and its Foundation Fellow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Centre for Transformative Innovation |first=Swinburne University of Technology |title=Day, Ross Henry - Person - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation |url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004619b.htm |access-date=2025-08-30 |website=www.eoas.info |language=en-gb}}</ref> During Day’s tenure his sabbatical was spent at Brown University, USA assisting in research into involuntary eye movements (microsaccades) with Lorrin Andrews Riggs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ross Henry DAY (1927 - 2018) |url=https://www.monash.edu/records-archives/archives/officers-and-awards/tributes-to-monash-identities/ross-day |access-date=2025-08-30 |website=Records Archives |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

== Monash University == Day moved in 1965 to Monash University which appointed him as Professor and Foundation Chair of the Department of Psychology, a post he was to hold until 1992, and where he was joined by Ken Forster, Bill Webster, Dexter Irvine, and John Bradshaw.<ref name=":4" /> Concurrently, he was Councillor of the Australian Psychological Society 1965–1975, President of the Australian Psychological Society (1966–67), wrote his ''Human Perception,''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross H. |title=Human perception |publisher=Wiley & Sons Australasia |year=1969 |isbn=9780471199953 |edition=1st |location=Sydney}}</ref> was Chair of the Human Factors Committee of the Australian Aeronautical Research Committee (1966–68), and Visiting Professor, University of Exeter, United Kingdom over 1971–72, and edited the ''Records of the Australian Academy of Science'' (1974–80) in which he was memorialised by Max Coltheart and Nicholas J. Wade whose PhD was supervised by Day.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coltheart |first1=Max |last2=Wade |first2=Nicholas J. |date=2022-06-15 |title=Ross Henry Day 1927–2018 |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/HR/HR22002 |journal=Historical Records of Australian Science |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=172–179 |doi=10.1071/HR22002 |issn=0727-3061|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1980 in Auckland Day gave evidence before a royal commission inquiring into the 28 November 1979 crash of a DC-10 into the Antarctic mountain Mount Erebus resulting in the deaths of all 257 aboard. He proposed that, in misperceiving visual observations, the crew's 'mental set' was fixed by their expectations that they were accurately following their flight plan which would take them clear of the mountain.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 October 1980 |title=Professor tells of air crew's expectations |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125629092 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=55 |issue=16,463}}</ref>

At Monash, Day promoted the discipline as a science, with its experimental laboratories located within the Faculty of Science and not to be seen as merely a “treatment procedure for people with emotional problems.”<ref name=":2" /> His leadership, distinguished by inquiry, rigour, commitment and productivity, influenced the scientific classification of psychology in Australian Universities. After legislation was passed by the Victorian Parliament in 1965, following a report by Mr Kevin Anderson QC, into Scientology, the Victorian Psychological Council of eight members including Day, was established to register all practising psychologists in Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136930332 |title=Clamp on science movement policed |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=40 |issue=11,507 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=29 June 1966 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |page=27 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Day chaired the Human Research Factors Committee of the Australian Road Research Board (1969–1973). From 1981-83 Ross served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science and President of the Council of the Lincoln Institute.<ref name=":0" /> On the advent of the Australian Bicentenary, Day and Ronald Taft co-authored a 25-page history and survey, "Psychology in Australia" for the ''Annual Review of Psychology''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Taft |first1=R |last2=Day |first2=R H |date=January 1988 |title=Psychology in Australia |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.ps.39.020188.002111 |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=375–400 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ps.39.020188.002111 |issn=0066-4308|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Research == Day’s research focus was on perceptual processes for potential explanation of consciousness, investigating it through experimental psychology.

His first major book ''Human Perception'' on sensory transduction, methods of measuring basic sensory capacities, motion perception, brightness, colour, learning, and distorted inputs, was designed for use in undergraduate courses, and was described in an ''American Journal of Psychology'' review by Stanley Coren of the New School for Social Research as "traditional in content and format" clear in its writing and of "extremely broad scope," and in which... <blockquote>the best of the chapters are those dealing with the areas in which Day himself has done research [...] sections on constancy (and its application to illusions), motion perception, and perceptual modification, which are clearly presented albeit theoretically rather one-sided...it endeavours not only to cover all of the topics but to incorporate data from vision, audition, and the chemical and mechanical senses as well. This results in rapid transitions...which makes the reading uncomfortably spasmodic, [so] the text would have been considerably improved if some breadth were sacrificed for more depth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coren |first1=Stanley |last2=Day |first2=R. H. |last3=Gregory |first3=R. L. |last4=Held |first4=Richard |last5=Richards |first5=Whitman |date=December 1972 |title=Human Perception |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1421724 |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=612 |doi=10.2307/1421724 |jstor=1421724 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> </blockquote>

In a series of papers Day developed explanations for the Müller-Lyer, Poggendorff and Zöllner figures and the illusions with which they are associated,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Day |first=Ross |date=2010-09-01 |title=On the common stimulus condition and explanation of the Müller-Lyer, Poggendorff and Zöllner illusions: The basis for a class of geometrical illusions |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049530903510773 |journal=Australian Journal of Psychology |language=en |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=115–120 |doi=10.1080/00049530903510773 |issn=0004-9530|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Day |first1=Ross H |last2=Stecher |first2=Erica J |date=February 1991 |title=Sine of an Illusion |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p200049 |journal=Perception |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=49–55 |doi=10.1068/p200049 |pmid=1945732 |issn=0301-0066|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and was keynote speaker at the November 1985, Adelphi University International Conference on lllusory Contours partially funded by the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross H. |title=The Perception of Illusory Contours |date=1987 |publisher=Springer New York |isbn=978-1-4612-4760-9 |editor-last=Petry |editor-first=Susan |location=New York, NY |chapter=Cues for Edge and the Origin of Illusory Contours: An Alternative Approach |editor-last2=Meyer |editor-first2=Glenn E.}}</ref> His position on these illusions opposes his friend<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Professor Ross Day, psychology {{!}} Australian Academy of Science |url=https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-ross-day-psychology |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=www.science.org.au |language=en}}</ref> Richard Gregory's argument for acculturation of architectural space as influencing a false sense of perspective in such illusions. Ross countered that it is not the result of misapplied size constancy, but that all of these illusions rely on whole-part determination and space–time reciprocity, that the whole figure is the primary determinant of the illusion; "you don't change the perception of illusions very much with experience; it hardly changes them at all."<ref name=":1" /> In 2008 he explained the wider value of such studies:<blockquote>...the way that illusions work offers us insight into how our perceptual systems work. Illusions are consistent across different observers, they don't disappear with repeated presentations and interestingly they also occur in sensory modalities other than vision, you can actually experience a Müller-Lyer in tactile mode.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bence |first=Nanay |date=2009 |title=Shape constancy, not size constancy: A (partial) explanation for the Müller-Lyer illusion |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt4jc2d40m/qt4jc2d40m.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society |volume=31 |pages=580 |issn=1069-7977}}</ref> I think these facets of illusions tell us a lot about our normal processing abilities.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>In allied work he examined the role of lightness, hue and saturation in feature-based visual attention,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kato |first=Takumi |chapter=Perceived Quality Created by the Light Reflection on a Car's Exterior Design |date=2022-01-21 |title=2022 5th International Conference on Computers in Management and Business (ICCMB) |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3512676.3512702 |language=en |publisher=ACM |pages=156–160 |doi=10.1145/3512676.3512702 |isbn=978-1-4503-8742-2}}</ref> used experimentation to explain motion after-effects,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wade |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Spillmann |first2=Lothar |last3=Swanston |first3=Michael T. |date=July 1996 |title=Visual Motion Aftereffects: Critical Adaptation and Test Conditions |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0042698995002669 |journal=Vision Research |language=en |volume=36 |issue=14 |pages=2167–2175 |doi=10.1016/0042-6989(95)00266-9 |pmid=8776483 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Julie M. |last2=German |first2=Katie J. |date=February 2008 |title=Comparing motion induction in lateral motion and motion in depth |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0042698907005445 |journal=Vision Research |language=en |volume=48 |issue=5 |pages=695–702 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2007.11.018 |pmid=18226830 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Braun |first1=Doris I. |last2=Schütz |first2=Alexander C. |last3=Gegenfurtner |first3=Karl R. |date=December 2010 |title=Localization of speed differences of context stimuli during fixation and smooth pursuit eye movements |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0042698910003846 |journal=Vision Research |language=en |volume=50 |issue=24 |pages=2740–2749 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2010.07.028 |pmid=20709094 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> visual aftereffects from patterns,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mussap |first1=Alexander J |last2=Crassini |first2=Boris |last3=Flanagan |first3=Patrick R |date=July 1998 |title=Directions of motion after-effects induced by gratings and plaids1Part of this research was reported at the 20th Australian Experimental Psychology Conference (1992).1 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/s0042-6989(97)00429-x |journal=Vision Research |volume=38 |issue=14 |pages=2087–2098 |doi=10.1016/s0042-6989(97)00429-x |pmid=9797969 |issn=0042-6989|url-access=subscription }}</ref> tested the role of the right brain hemisphere in facial recognition,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Lancker |first=Diana |date=September 1991 |title=Personal relevance and the human right hemisphere |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/027826269190067I |journal=Brain and Cognition |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=75 |doi=10.1016/0278-2626(91)90067-I |pmid=1781982 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Polich |first1=John |last2=Aguilar |first2=Victoria |date=June 1990 |title=Hemispheric local/global processing revisited |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/000169189090034D |journal=Acta Psychologica |language=en |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=47–60 |doi=10.1016/0001-6918(90)90034-D |pmid=2392956 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and characterised accommodation in clinical hemianopic defects in vision, particularly accommodative micropsia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kassubek |first1=J |last2=Otte |first2=M |last3=Wolter |first3=T |last4=Greenlee |first4=M.W |last5=Mergner |first5=T |last6=Lücking |first6=C.H |date=November 1999 |title=Brain imaging in a patient with hemimicropsia |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/s0028-3932(99)00041-x |journal=Neuropsychologia |volume=37 |issue=12 |pages=1327–1334 |doi=10.1016/s0028-3932(99)00041-x |pmid=10606008 |issn=0028-3932}}</ref> Accounts of his investigations of infant spatial orientation and other perceptual development form a large part of his output, and his experiments on size constancy with Beryl McKenzie discovered that at around six months of age young babies appropriately 'postured' their hand when reaching through either horizontal or vertical elongated apertures to grasp a desirable object, thus perceiving, anticipating and accommodating to the intervening apertures. Published in their edited ''Perceptual Development in Early Infancy: Problems and Issues'' were Day's findings about visual constancy and McKenzie's research into changes in spatial orientation, and essays by Australians Denis Burnham, Michael Cook, Boris Crassini, Lynda Earnshaw, Jeff Field, David Finlay, Algis Ivinskis, Ray Over, Maria Quinn, Sharne Rolfe Zikman which covered a collection of diverse perspectives, theory and methodologies relating to object perception, visual size constancy, and shape constancy within the first year of an infant's development. Day and McKenzie co-wrote the concluding reflection, from which reviewer Massaro highlights the unresolved controversy between direct and indirect perception points of view:<blockquote>The hopeful note is that we now have more powerful techniques to address the issue. A second observation involves the importance of determining process rather than simply outcome. Finding an increase in the accuracy of spatial perception or speech perception with age is not as important as uncovering the processes responsible for this increase. Related to the orientation towards process is the need for a fine-grain analysis of behavior. As an example, the duration of looking in a habituation study can be supplemented with measures of the nature of the behaviour during looking.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massaro |first=Dominic W. |date=Winter 1988 |title=Perceptual Development in Early Infancy: Problems and Issues by Beryl E. McKenzie, Ross H. Day Review |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=604–607 |doi=10.2307/1423239 |jstor=1423239 }}</ref></blockquote>Day's 1990s experiments with the Bourdon illusion,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Day |first=R. H. |date=7 November 1990 |title=The Bourdon illusion in haptic space |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/BF03210880 |journal=Perception & Psychophysics |language=en |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=400–404 |doi=10.3758/BF03210880 |pmid=2345693 |issn=0031-5117}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Day |first1=R. H. |last2=Mitchell |first2=Paula |last3=Stecher |first3=E. J. |date=July 1990 |title=The bourdon illusion occurs with straight-, right-angle-, and parallel-edge figures |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/BF03206690 |journal=Perception & Psychophysics |language=en |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=375–381 |doi=10.3758/BF03206690 |pmid=2243761 |issn=0031-5117}}</ref> in which a straight line appears to be bent in the direction of an adjacent, actually bent, contour,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Devinck |first1=Frédéric |last2=Quaireau |first2=Christophe |date=February 2022 |title=Optimizing the strength of the Bourdon effect by varying the triangle arrangement |url=https://link.springer.com/10.3758/s13414-021-02379-x |journal=Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics |language=en |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=519–528 |doi=10.3758/s13414-021-02379-x |pmid=34611824 |issn=1943-3921}}</ref> determined that the illusion works as effectively in an active haptic version as the visual, for which accounted in the compromise in perception between the orientation of the test surface and that of the object of which it is an integral part.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ballesteros |first1=Soledad |last2=Mayas |first2=Julia |last3=Reales |first3=José Manuel |last4=Heller |first4=Morton |date=November 2012 |title=The Effect of Age on the Haptic Horizontal–Vertical Curvature Illusion With Raised-Line Shapes |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/87565641.2012.688901 |journal=Developmental Neuropsychology |language=en |volume=37 |issue=8 |pages=653–667 |doi=10.1080/87565641.2012.688901 |pmid=23145564 |issn=8756-5641|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Building on such research, and by focusing on evidence from illusions, Day proposed a theory (published 2014) that explained both accurate and illusory perception in the same way, arguing that the two are essentially the same process.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vallor |first=Shannon |date=2006 |title=An enactive-phenomenological approach to veridical perception |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=39–60}}</ref>

In 2003 Day's further investigations, with Best and Cassini,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Best |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Day |first2=Ross H. |last3=Crassini |first3=Boris |date=November 2003 |title=The influence of object-image velocity change on perceived heading in minimal environments |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/BF03194851 |journal=Perception & Psychophysics |language=en |volume=65 |issue=8 |pages=1273–1284 |doi=10.3758/BF03194851 |pmid=14710961 |issn=0031-5117}}</ref> into retinal flow, discovered that humans judge self-movement (heading) from retinal image depth, motion direction, and velocity changes, but two experiments with even minimal stimuli suggested that the magnitude of retinal image velocity change—not just acceleration or deceleration—contributed to heading judgments under minimalist conditions.<ref>{{Citation |last=DeLucia |first=Patricia R. |title=Time-to-Contact |chapter=Chapter 11 Multiple sources of information influence time-to-contact judgments: Do heuristics accommodate limits in sensory and cognitive processes? |date=2004 |series=Advances in Psychology |volume=135 |pages=243–285 |chapter-url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S016641150480013X |access-date=2025-09-04 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/s0166-4115(04)80013-x |isbn=978-0-444-51045-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Mark |last2=Ibbotson |first2=Michael R |date=January 2007 |title=Relative Sensitivities to Large-Field Optic-Flow Patterns Varying in Direction and Speed |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p5626 |journal=Perception |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=113–124 |doi=10.1068/p5626 |pmid=17357709 |issn=0301-0066|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeLucia |first=Patricia R. |date=2004 |title=Time-to-Contact Judgments of an Approaching Object That Is Partially Concealed by an Occluder. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-1523.30.2.287 |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=287–304 |doi=10.1037/0096-1523.30.2.287 |pmid=15053689 |issn=1939-1277|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Well into the twenty-first century Day contributed his findings on infant development to the international literature on intellectual disability.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early development in neurogenetic disorders |date=2011 |publisher=Elsevier ; Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-374478-4 |editor-last=Fidler |editor-first=Deborah J. |series=International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities |volume=40 |location=Boston : San Diego}}</ref>

A member of the Australian Research Grants Committee (now the Australian Research Council) Day advocated for research funding for the discipline.<ref name=":4" />

== Later life == Day retired from Monash in 1992 returning 1993–2008 as chair the Monash University Animal Welfare Committee (MUAWC), a position he held until 2008. That year he researched and published the genealogy ''Albany days: a family history.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross H. |title=Albany days: a family history |publisher=Ross Day |year=2008 |location=Melbourne, Vic. |oclc=271606495}}</ref>

Day also worked from 1992 as an Adjunct Professor in Psychology at La Trobe University (Bundoora) and Deakin University (Geelong).<ref name=":0" />

Ross Day died on 22 October 2018 at his home in Sale, aged ninety-one.

== Awards == * In 1988 La Trobe University made Ross a Doctor of the University, ''honoris causa''. * 1990: Ross was the first psychologist to be elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science aged 63, noted as "distinguished among Australian scientists for his efforts to have experimental psychology recognised as one of the biological sciences."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122101901 |title=Two Canberrans among new science fellows |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=64 |issue=20,097 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=21 April 1990 |accessdate=30 August 2025 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> * 1992: Honorary Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) having been its President from 1966-1967. * Ross was awarded the title Emeritus Professor by Monash University in 1993.

== Publications == === Selected books and book chapters === * {{Cite book |last1=Day |first1=Ross H. |title=A comparison of two types of visual approach aid |last2=Baxter |first2=J.R. |publisher=Aeronautical Research Laboratories |year=1959 |location=Melbourne, Vic. |oclc=1109591511}} * {{Cite book |last1=Baxter |first1=J.R. |title=Sensitivity of the precision visual glidepath (P.V.G.) at long range |last2=Day |first2=Ross H. |last3=Lane |first3=J.C. |publisher=Department of Supply, Australian Defence Scientific Service, Aeronautical Research Laboratories |year=1960 |location=Melbourne, Vic. |oclc=1000312823}} * {{Cite book |last1=Baxter |first1=J.R. |title=An investigation of crew duties in the 'electra' cockpit |last2=Day |first2=Ross H. |publisher=Aeronautical Research Laboratories |year=1961 |location=Melbourne, Vic. |oclc=1109494408}} * {{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross Henry |title=The effects of repeated trials and prolonged fixation on error in the Müller-Lyer figure |publisher=American Psychological Association |year=1962 |series=Psychological monographs, 76, 533 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=469881070}} * {{Cite book |last1=Baxter |first1=J. R. |title=Study of three pilot operation of a jet transport aircraft |last2=Cumming |first2=R W |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |year=1963 |series=Australian defence scientific service human engineering report, 03 |oclc=61798413}} * {{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross H. |title=Human perception |publisher=Wiley & Sons Australasia |year=1969 |isbn=9780471199953 |edition=1st |location=Sydney}} * {{Cite book |title=Studies in perception |date=1977 |publisher=Univ. of Western Australia |isbn=978-0-85564-121-4 |editor-last=Day |editor-first=R. H. |location=Nedlands |editor-last2=Day |editor-first2=R. H.}} * {{Cite book |last=Day |first=Ross H. |title=The Perception of Illusory Contours |date=1987 |publisher=Springer New York |isbn=978-1-4612-4760-9 |editor-last=Petry |editor-first=Susan |location=New York, NY |chapter=Cues for Edge and the Origin of Illusory Contours: An Alternative Approach |editor-last2=Meyer |editor-first2=Glenn E.}} * {{Cite book |title=Perceptual development in early infancy: problems and issues |date=1987 |publisher=L. Erlbaum Associates |isbn=978-0-89859-943-5 |editor-last=McKenzie |editor-first=Beryl E. |location=Hillsdale, N.J |editor-last2=Day |editor-first2=R. H.}} * {{Cite book |last=Day |first=SoledadR H |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317782605 |title=Cognitive Approaches to Human Perception |date=2014-02-25 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-317-78260-5 |editor-last=Ballesteros |editor-first=Soledad |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en |chapter=The Foundations of Veridical and Illusory Perception |doi=10.4324/9781315807126 |editor-last2=Ballesteros |editor-first2=Soledad}}

=== Articles === Day contributed articles to such journals as ''Psychological Review,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Day |first=R. H. |date=1957 |title=The physiological basis of form perception in the peripheral retina. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0043260 |journal=Psychological Review |language=en |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=38–48 |doi=10.1037/h0043260 |pmid=13408393 |issn=1939-1471|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Perception and Psychophysics,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rozvany |first1=G. I. N. |last2=Day |first2=R. H. |date=January 1980 |title=Determinants of the Bourdon effect |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/BF03204313 |journal=Perception & Psychophysics |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=39–44 |doi=10.3758/BF03204313 |pmid=7413408 |issn=0031-5117}}</ref> ''Perception,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=Ian E |last2=Day |first2=Ross H |last3=Stecher |first3=Erica J |date=February 1990 |title=Perceived Causality Occurs with Stroboscopic Movement of One or Both Stimulus Elements |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p190017 |journal=Perception |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=17–20 |doi=10.1068/p190017 |pmid=2336330 |issn=0301-0066|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Day |first1=Ross H |last2=Stecher |first2=Erica J |date=February 1991 |title=Sine of an Illusion |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/p200049 |journal=Perception |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=49–55 |doi=10.1068/p200049 |pmid=1945732 |issn=0301-0066|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Cortex,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Glass |first1=Carey |last2=Bradshaw |first2=John L. |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |last4=Umiltà |first4=Carlo |date=December 1985 |title=Familiarity, Spatial Frequency and Task Determinants in Processing Laterally Presented Representations of Faces |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0010945258800027 |journal=Cortex |language=en |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=513–531 |doi=10.1016/S0010-9452(58)80002-7 |pmid=4092482 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Vision Research,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=Geoffrey W. |last2=Barsdell |first2=Wendy N. |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |date=March 2014 |title=The role of lightness, hue and saturation in feature-based visual attention |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0042698913003052 |journal=Vision Research |language=en |volume=96 |pages=25–32 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2013.12.013 |pmid=24384403 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Journal of Experimental Psychology,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Best |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Crassini |first2=Boris |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |date=2002 |title=The roles of static depth information and object-image relative motion in perception of heading. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-1523.28.4.884 |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance |language=en |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=884–901 |doi=10.1037/0096-1523.28.4.884 |pmid=12190256 |issn=1939-1277|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Human Factors,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=George |last2=Meehan |first2=James W. |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |date=June 1992 |title=The Effect of Accommodation on Retinal Image Size |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001872089203400304 |journal=Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society |language=en |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=289–301 |doi=10.1177/001872089203400304 |pmid=1634241 |issn=0018-7208|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''The American Journal of Psychology,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ganz |first1=Leo |last2=Day |first2=Ross H. |date=September 1965 |title=An Analysis of the Satiation-Fatigue Mechanism of Figural After-Effects |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1420570 |journal=The American Journal of Psychology |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=345–361 |doi=10.2307/1420570 |jstor=1420570 |pmid=14344078 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Brain and Cognition,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=Geoffrey W. |last2=Lambeth |first2=Sandra E. |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |last4=Gould |first4=Ian C. |last5=Castles |first5=Anne E. |date=March 2012 |title=The role of the magnocellular visual pathway in the attentional blink |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278262611002284 |journal=Brain and Cognition |language=en |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=99–104 |doi=10.1016/j.bandc.2011.12.002 |pmid=22218296 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oxley |first1=Jennifer A. |last2=Ihsen |first2=Elfriede |last3=Fildes |first3=Brian N. |last4=Charlton |first4=Judith L. |last5=Day |first5=Ross H. |date=September 2005 |title=Crossing roads safely: An experimental study of age differences in gap selection by pedestrians |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0001457505000795 |journal=Accident Analysis & Prevention |language=en |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=962–971 |doi=10.1016/j.aap.2005.04.017 |pmid=15993827 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Sparrow |first1=W.A. |title=Perception and action in mental retardation |date=2002 |journal=International Review of Research in Mental Retardation |volume=25 |pages=241–278 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0074775002800118 |access-date=2025-09-01 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/s0074-7750(02)80011-8 |isbn=978-0-12-366225-5 |last2=Day |first2=Ross H.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=Geoffrey W. |last2=Barsdell |first2=Wendy N. |last3=Day |first3=Ross H. |date=March 2014 |title=The role of lightness, hue and saturation in feature-based visual attention |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0042698913003052 |journal=Vision Research |language=en |volume=96 |pages=25–32 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2013.12.013 |pmid=24384403 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Science,''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Riggs |first1=Lorrin A. |last2=Day |first2=Ross H. |date=1980-04-25 |title=Visual Aftereffects Derived from Inspection of Orthogonally Moving Patterns |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7367869 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=208 |issue=4442 |pages=416–418 |doi=10.1126/science.7367869 |pmid=7367869 |bibcode=1980Sci...208..416R |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and the ''International Review of Research in Mental Retardation.''<ref>{{Citation |last1=Sparrow |first1=W.A. |title=Perception and action in mental retardation |date=2002 |journal=International Review of Research in Mental Retardation |volume=25 |pages=241–278 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0074775002800118 |access-date=2025-08-31 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/s0074-7750(02)80011-8 |isbn=978-0-12-366225-5 |last2=Day |first2=Ross H.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control|state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Ross}} Category:1927 births Category: 2018 deaths Category:people from Albany, Western Australia Category:University of Western Australia alumni Category:Monash University alumni Category:Australian academics Category:Scientists from Western Australia Category:Australian psychologists Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Category:Academics of the University of Bristol Category:Child development Category:Infancy Category:Perception