Temporal estimation in the perception of occluded motion.

Abstract

Ss were shown a rectangular object which moved transversely across their field of view and passed behind an opaque screen. The purpose was to investigate some of the factors affecting estimates of the time required for the occluded moving object to travel a given distance behind the screen. The factors selected for study were (1) method of viewing the moving object (pursuit, static fixation), (2) background structure (homogeneous, textured), and (3) object size. According to previous studies, these variables affect the perceived speed of a moving object and might therefore be expected to affect estimates of the duration of occluded traversal. The results did not show statistically significant differences among experimental groups, although data trends are discussed. An additional finding was that Ss significantly overestimated the duration of occluded traversal, consistent with a tendency to overestimate traversal distance. The experiment is related to Michotte's studies of “amodal perception” and discussed in terms of Gibson's stimulus information approach to perception.