The Causal and Force Perception and Their Perceived Asymmetries in Flight Collisions.

Yuying Wang,Yunyun Chen,Bihua Yan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01942

Yuying Wang, Yunyun Chen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01942

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Abstract

The present study was to investigate causal perception and force perception in ecological objects. Four experiments were designed to compare the perceived causality and force of one of the two objects on the other by changing the property of one or both of the objects involved in the launching effect. Our results support causal asymmetry and force asymmetry, in which the launcher has a greater causal effect and exerts more force on the target. Furthermore, we also found that, the ecological object, which is the airplane in this study, had a greater causal effect and exerted more force, resulting in strengthened asymmetries when the airplane acted as the launcher and weakened asymmetries when the airplane acted as the target. The properties of the object also impacted causal perception by attenuating the effect of the temporal gap on causality. Those results indicate that the airplane is perceived as the main cause for a collision compared with an abstract object. The influence of conceptual knowledge of the object and the sense of agency on changing the degree of perceived causality and force in a particular motion pattern was discussed.

Highlights

Phenomenal causality, proposed by Michotte (1946/1963), refers to the visual impression that one object causes another to move
Perceived Causality In a replication of previous research (White, 2006, 2007), the launcher was more likely to be perceived as making the target move, while the target was less likely to be perceived as causing the launcher’s stop of movement. This is consistent with the causal asymmetry hypothesis
More trials in the fast/fast and fast/slow speed combinations were perceived as causal events than in the slow/slow condition, while the percentages of trials perceived as causal events in these two conditions were not significantly different

Summary

Introduction

Phenomenal causality, proposed by Michotte (1946/1963), refers to the visual impression that one object causes another to move. The launching effect is one among many kinds of phenomenal causalities. Object A (the launcher) moves toward the stationary Object B (the target). The launcher stops moving and the target begins to move along the launcher’s previous direction of movement at the same or a slightly slower speed (Natsoulas, 1961). Observers usually report a causal impression of the target movement caused by the launcher. They report a strong force impression that the launcher exerts a certain amount of force on the target in such a collision event

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