In this chapter we will elaborate upon the distinctions made in Chapter II between hearing, listening, and auding, and between seeing, looking, and reading. First we will consider the BAPs (basic adaptive processes) of hearing and seeing as processes that are innately given to permit the person to utilize structural information in the environmental energy flux. Next, we will consider the role of BAPs for memory and attention in the emergence of listening and looking as processes for obtaining information relevant .to an individual's cognitive demands. Then we will consider the development of auding and reading as specialized listening and looking activities, pointing up certain similarities and differences between these two languaging processes.
Our way of viewing the environment and the person's mental life is heavily influenced by the work of James Gibson (1966). Indeed, much of what follows is no more than our paraphrase of his thinking. Yet, we are never too certain as to where his influence interacts with the influence of other writers (e.g., his wife, E. Gibson, 1969; Hochberg, 1970; Neisser,1967; Blumenthal, 1970) and our owl! thinking to produce the statement we present. Therefore, having. acknowledged our debt to these exceptional thinkers, we will simply proceed without always citing whose thought is involved.
We consider that the earth is contained within a "sea of energy." This energy flux includes electromagnetic energy and mechanical energy which contain the potential for stimulation of living organisms. That is to say, the different forms of energy are there whether or not an organism has the requisite sensory apparatus for detecting them. Furthermore, within each form of energy, there are many structural features that are shaped by the objects and events in the earth's environment. For instance, mechanical energy is structured into many forms by the vibrations produced by events such as landslides, bird calls, wind blowing through trees, and human voices. Electromagnetic energy radiated by the sun is structured by being filtered, absorbed, diffused, and reflected by the gases, liquids, and solid objects making up the earth's atmosphere and surface.