Causal Context Presented in Subsequent Event Modifies the Perceived Timing of Cause and Effect

Hiroyuki Umemura

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00314

Abstract

The effect of perceived causality on other aspects of perception, such as temporal or spatial perception, has interested many researchers. Previous studies have shown that the perceived timing of two events is modulated when the events are intentionally produced or the causal link between the two events was known in advance. However, little research has directly supported the idea that causality alone can modulate the perceived timing of two events without having knowledge about causal links in advance. In this study, I used novel causal displays in which various types of causal contexts could be presented in subsequent events (movement or color change of objects). In these displays, the preceding events were the same (ball falling from above), so observers could not predict which subsequent events displayed. The results showed that the perceived causal context modulated the temporal relationship of two serial events so as to be consistent with the causal order implied by the subsequent event; ball hit the floor, then objects moved. These modulations were smaller when the movements implied preceding effect of the falling ball (e.g., wind pressure). These results are well-suited to the Bayesian framework in which the perceived timing of events is reconstructed through the observers' prior experiences, and suggest that multiple prior experiences would competitively contribute to the estimation of the timing of events.

Highlights

When one sees a ball flying toward a glass and breaking it, one perceives causality between these two events, namely the ball hit and broke the glass
The proportions of trials in which the end of the preceding event was earlier than the start of the subsequent event were plotted and the point of subjective equality (PSE), which indicates that the end of the first event and the start of the second event were simultaneous, was calculated by fitting with a cumulative Gaussian function as an index of the extent to which the timing of the end of the first event and the start of the second event converged (Figure 2A)
There were a small number of unpredicted observations, these answers were generally consistent with the intention of the experimenter in creating these movements. These analyses revealed negative shifts of PSE in Type A, B, and C stimuli as compared to that in Type D

Summary

Introduction

When one sees a ball flying toward a glass and breaking it, one perceives causality between these two events, namely the ball hit and broke the glass. One type of experimental evidence for the effect of causality on temporal perception was introduced by Haggard (Haggard et al, 2002), who showed that the perceived timing of two causally linked events converged together such that participants perceived voluntary movements (key-press) as occurring later and their sensory consequences (tone) as occurring earlier than they did. They offered an explanation in which the binding effect is rooted in the motor system and is driven by the intentional action planning for this “intentional binding” phenomenon

Methods

Results

Conclusion