Representational Momentum Research Articles

Embeddedness of Earth's gravity in visual perception.

Falling objects are commonplace in daily life, requiring precise perceptual judgments for interception and avoidance. We argue that human judgments of projectile motion arise from the interplay between sensory information and predictions constrained by Newtonian mechanics. Our study investigates how individuals perceive falling objects under various gravitational conditions, aiming to understand the role of internalized gravity in visual perception. Through meticulously controlling the available information, we demonstrated that these phenomena cannot be explained solely by simple heuristics nor representational momentum. Instead, we found that the perceptual judgments of humans (n = 11, 13, 14, and 11, respectively, in Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4) are influenced by a combination of sensory information and gravity predictions, highlighting the role of internalized physical constraints in the perception of projectile motion.

Anisotropies related to representational gravity.

Four experiments examined whether representational gravity, in which memory for the location of a previously-viewed target is displaced in the direction of implied gravitational attraction, occurs uniformly across a target. Participants viewed stationary, vertically-moving, or horizontally-moving targets of different sizes and at different heights within the picture plane. After a target vanished, participants indicated the remembered location of the top edge or bottom edge of that target. Significant anisotropies were found, as the remembered location of the top edge was displaced downward, whereas the remembered location of the bottom edge was not displaced or was displaced upward. Anisotropies along the vertical axis were not influenced by whether participants knew prior to target presentation which edge to remember or by whether targets were stationary or moved vertically, although there was a trend foranisotropies along the vertical axis to be reduced when targets moved horizontally. Larger targets and targets higher in the picture plane resulted in larger displacement when targets were stationary, although effects of size and height were diminished when targets were moving. If the top edge and bottom edge of a target are considered analogous to the trailing edge and leading edge of a moving target, respectively, then anisotropies related to representational gravity are similar to anisotropies previously reported for representational momentum for horizontally-moving targets (as direction of implied gravitational attraction is downward). The existence of such anisotropies has implications for the representation of space and for the localization of and interaction with stimuli in the environment.

Decreased resting-state brain function in older adults predicts enlarged representational momentum.

Representational momentum (RM) refers to the phenomenon in which an observer's judgment of the final location of a previously viewed moving target is often displaced forward in the direction of motion. This phenomenon is an adaptive mechanism that compensates for neural processing delays and is closely associated with visual cortex function. However, the impact of age-related decline of visual cortex function on the manifestations of RM remains unclear. The present study examined differences in the RM effect between older (N = 82) and younger adults (N = 74) using a cursor-positioning task. Additionally, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to explore the potential neural substrates that underlie these differences, employing amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF, reflecting the intensity of neural activity) and regional homogeneity (ReHo, reflecting the synchronization of neural activity) as indicators. Our findings indicate a significant increase in RM among older adults compared with younger adults. Neuroimaging data revealed a significant decrease in ALFF and ReHo within extensive regions of the visual cortex in older adults, validating age-related differences in this cortical area. More importantly, ALFF values in the bilateral visual area 3 and ReHo values in the bilateral visual area 2 in older adults exhibited a strong negative correlation with their RM effects. These results suggest that larger RM in older adults may be functional compensation for aging of the visual cortex. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Motion extrapolation in sport expertise: Representational momentum and representational gravity in volleyball athletes

When people indicate the vanishing location of a moving target that suddenly disappears, systematic errors forward (in the direction of motion) and downward (in the direction of gravity) emerge. These spatial displacements were coined, respectively, Representational Momentum and Representational Gravity, and are believed to reflect internalized ecologically relevant physical invariants useful for the anticipation of future states of an event. Previous research has shown that sports athletes exhibit increased Representational Momentum, indicating enhanced motion extrapolation and anticipation, albeit it is still not clear up to what degree this effect is specific for the expertise context or if it generalizes to other dynamic events. Furthermore, the influence of expertise on Representational Gravity, particularly in contexts where anticipation of vertically moving objects is crucial, remains understudied. This study aimed to address these gaps by focusing on Volleyball as a context of expertise due to the prevalence of fast vertically moving balls. Volleyball athletes and non-athletes indicated the perceived offset location of a smoothly moving target, which moved at a constant speed or was subjected to acceleration/deceleration, embedded either in a Volleyball or neutral context. Outcomes revealed that for the Volleyball context, athletes, but not non-athletes, revealed a significant trend to misperceive targets moving along the left diagonal to be further displaced forward beyond what would be expected due to Representational Momentum alone. This finding is discussed in relation to the natural statistics of Volleyball games, where crossed ball trajectories, particularly by the outside hitter, are more prevalent, fast, and offensive, requiring better anticipation to be efficiently dealt with.

No evidence for top-down expertise effects on action perception in sprinters using static images

Athletes have been found to demonstrate a superior ability to detect subtle variations in dynamic displays (e.g., point-light displays and videos) depicting expert actions compared to non-athletes. The current study aimed to determine whether this advantage also exists when dynamic information is unavailable (i.e., using static images). Using a staircase procedure, two frames from a video depicting an athlete either walking (everyday action) or performing a sprint start (expert action) were presented, and athletes (sprinters) and non-athletes were asked to indicate whether the images were identical or different. We examined whether presenting the images sequentially (temporal task) or simultaneously (spatial task) influenced participants' discrimination performance. We predicted that the sprinters would outperform the non-sprinters in the spatial task as body postures could be compared directly but not in the temporal task due to larger representational momentum effects for athletes. Contrary to our hypotheses, the sprinters and non-sprinters performed similarly in all tasks and conditions. In line with the prediction that representational momentum may impair performance, participants’ thresholds were lower for the spatial than the temporal task. However, post-hoc analysis suggested that this effect is likely to be better explained by a task order effect whereby participants who completed the temporal task first exhibited an advantage in the spatial task, while there were no performance differences for participants who completed the opposite task order. In sum, our results provide no evidence for the idea that motor expertise affects action perception (i.e., perceptual resonance) in a simple psychophysical task employing static images.

Emotional anticipation for dynamic emotional faces is not modulated by schizotypal traits: A Representational Momentum study.

Schizotypy, a personality structure that resembles schizophrenia symptoms, is often associated with abnormal facial emotion perception. Based on the prevailing sense of threat in psychotic experiences, and the immediate perceptual history of seeing others' facial expressions, individuals with high schizotypal traits may exhibit a heightened tendency to anticipate anger. To test this, we used insights from Representational Momentum (RM), a perceptual phenomenon in which the endpoint of a dynamic event is systematically displaced forward, into the immediate future. Angry-to-ambiguous and happy-to-ambiguous avatar faces were presented, each followed by a probe with the same (ambiguous) expression as the endpoint, or one slightly changed to express greater happiness/anger. Participants judged if the probe was "equal" to the endpoint and rated how confident they were. The sample was divided into high (N = 46) and low (N = 49) schizotypal traits using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). First, a forward bias was found in happy-to-ambiguous faces, suggesting emotional anticipation solely for dynamic faces changing towards a potential threat (anger). This may reflect an adaptative mechanism, as it is safer to anticipate any hostility from a conspecific than the opposite. Second, contrary to our hypothesis, high schizotypal traits did not heighten RM for happy-to-ambiguous faces, nor did they lead to overconfidence in biased judgements. This may suggest a typical pattern of emotional anticipation in non-clinical schizotypy, but caution is needed due to the use of self-report questionnaires, university students, and a modest sample size. Future studies should also investigate if the same holds for clinical manifestations of schizophrenia.

Diminished representational momentum for physical states in patients with depressive disorder

The representational momentum for physical state changes refers to the fact that we remember objects as more changed in physical state than they actually were. It has been well documented that depressive disorder is associated with impairment of time perception. Thus, the present work was conducted with the aim to investigate the representational momentum for physical state changes in patients with depressive disorder, firstly. Forty patients with depressive disorder and forty-two healthy controls were administrated with the task of representational momentum for physical state changes and task of time perception. The stimulus comprises 10 videos showing object state changes (e.g., ice melting). During playing, the video would stop and immediately be obscured by mosaics at a specific point. Participants select from three detection images (the exact frame of the video just be masked, the frame after that, and the frame before that) to test representational momentum and estimate the duration of the video in seconds to test time perception. The depressive group showed diminished representational momentum (i.e., lower scores on the task of representational momentum) than normal controls (U = 215.00, Z = −5.83, p < 0.001). In addition, the scores on the task of representational momentum were significantly positively related with the scores on the task of time perception among depressive group (r = 0.446, p = 0.004). The findings indicate that patients with depressive disorder may exhibit diminished representational momentum for physical states, which may be correlated with their impairment of time perception.

The representational momentum effect and the reference dependence effect on the evaluation of dynamic happy expressions

The representational momentum effect and the reference dependence effect on the evaluation of dynamic happy expressions

Need for (expected) speed: Exploring the indirect influence of trial type consistency on representational momentum

The biases affecting people’s perception of dynamic stimuli are typically robust and strong for specific stimulus configurations. For example, representational momentum describes a systematic perceptual bias in the direction of motion for the final location of a moving stimulus. Under clearly defined stimulus configurations (e.g., specific stimulus identity, size, speed), for example, the frequently used “implied motion” trial sequence, for which a target is subsequently presented in a consistent direction and with a consistent speed, a displacement in motion direction is evidenced. The present study explores the potential influence of expectations regarding directional as well as speed consistencies on representational momentum, elicited by including other, inconsistently moving trial types within the same experimental block. A systematic representational momentum effect was observed when only consistent motion trials were presented. In contrast, when inconsistent target motion trials were mixed within the same block of experimental trials, the representational momentum effect decreased, or was even eliminated (Experiments 1 & 2). Detailed analysis indicated that this reflects a global (proportion of consistent and inconsistent motion trials within a particular experimental block), not local (preceding trial influencing actual trial) effect. Yet, additional follow-up studies (Experiments 3 & 4) support the idea that these changes in perceived location are strongly influenced by the overall stimulus speed statistics in the different experimental blocks. These results are discussed and interpreted in light of recent theoretical developments in the literature on motion perception that highlight the importance of expectations about stimulus speed for motion perception.

Relationships between the magnitude of representational momentum and the spatial and temporal anticipatory judgments of opponent's kicks in taekwondo.

For successful actions in a fast, dynamic environment such as sports, a quick successful anticipation of a forthcoming environmental state is essential. However, the perceptual mechanisms involved in successful anticipation are not fully understood. This study examined the relationships between the magnitude of representational momentum (RM) as a forward displacement of the memory representation of the final position of a moving object (which implies that observers perceptually "see" a near future forthcoming dynamic environmental state) and the temporal and spatial anticipatory judgments of the opponent's high or middle kicks in taekwondo. Twenty-seven participants (university taekwondo club members and non-members) observed video clips of taekwondo kicks that vanished at one of 10 frame positions prior to the kick impact and performed three tasks consecutively: anticipatory coincidence timing (CT) with the arrival of kick impact, judgment of the kick type (high and middle kicks) by forced choice, and judgment of the vanishing frame position (measuring RM). Our results showed significant group effects for the number of correct kick-type judgments and the judgment threshold for kick-type choice (kick-typeJT), which was estimated in terms of individual psychometric function curves. A significant correlation was found between the magnitude of RM (estimated at kick-typeJT) and kick-typeJT, but not between the CT errors (estimated at kick-typeJT) and kick-typeJT. This indicates that the magnitude of RM may play an influential role in quick kick-type judgments, but not in coincidence timing while observing an opponent's kick motion. These findings suggest that subjective anticipatory perception or judgment of the future spatial state is vital to anticipatory actions under severe time constraints.

Representational horizon and visual space orientation: An investigation into the role of visual contextual cues on spatial mislocalisations.

The perceived offset position of a moving target has been found to be displaced forward, in the direction of motion (Representational Momentum; RM), downward, in the direction of gravity (Representational Gravity; RG), and, recently, further displaced along the horizon implied by the visual context (Representational Horizon; RH). The latter, while still underexplored, offers the prospect to clarify the role of visual contextual cues in spatial orientation and in the perception of dynamic events. As such, the present work sets forth to ascertain the robustness of Representational Horizon across varying types of visual contexts, particularly between interior and exterior scenes, and to clarify to what degree it reflects a perceptual or response phenomenon. To that end, participants were shown targets, moving along one out of several possible trajectories, overlaid on a randomly chosen background depicting either an interior or exterior scene rotated -22.5º, 0º, or 22.5º in relation to the actual vertical. Upon the vanishing of the target, participants were required to indicate its last seen location with a computer mouse. For half the participants, the background vanished with the target while for the remaining it was kept visible until a response was provided. Spatial localisations were subjected to a discrete Fourier decomposition procedure to obtain independent estimates of RM, RG, and RH. Outcomes showed that RH's direction was biased towards the horizon implied by the visual context, but solely for exterior scenes, and irrespective of its presence or absence during the spatial localisation response, supporting its perceptual/representational nature.

Does a concurrent motor process influence representational momentum?

Whether the direction of a hand motion that is congruent or incongruent with a concurrent target motion can influence representational momentum for that target was examined. Participants viewed a leftward or rightward moving target while moving their hand rightward, leftward, or not moving their hand. Prior studies of mental rotation found that congruency or incongruency of the direction of mental rotation and the direction of a concurrent physical rotation of a stimulus influenced mental rotation. As mental rotation and representational momentum each involve extrapolation of target motion, it could be predicted that congruency of the direction of hand motion and the direction of target motion might influence representational momentum of the target. Robust representational momentum occurred in all conditions, but there was no effect of congruency of hand motion and target motion, nor of the presence or absence of hand motion, on representational momentum. The results are consistent with a hypothesis that the generation of representational momentum involves sensory processes rather than motor processes.

Representational Momentum and Aerodynamics: Does drag force impact the representational momentum effect?

Representational Momentum and Aerodynamics: Does drag force impact the representational momentum effect?

Representational momentum of biological motion in full-body, point-light and single-dot displays

Observing the actions of others triggers, in our brain, an internal and automatic simulation of its unfolding in time. Here, we investigated whether the instantaneous internal representation of an observed action is modulated by the point of view under which an action is observed and the stimulus type. To this end, we motion captured the elliptical arm movement of a human actor and used these trajectories to animate a photorealistic avatar, a point-light stimulus or a single dot rendered either from an egocentric or an allocentric point of view. Crucially, the underlying physical characteristics of the movement were the same in all conditions. In a representational momentum paradigm, we then asked subjects to report the perceived last position of an observed movement at the moment in which the stimulus was randomly stopped. In all conditions, subjects tended to misremember the last configuration of the observed stimulus as being further forward than the veridical last showed position. This misrepresentation was however significantly smaller for full-body stimuli compared to point-light and single dot displays and it was not modulated by the point of view. It was also smaller when first-person full body stimuli were compared with a stimulus consisting of a solid shape moving with the same physical motion. We interpret these findings as evidence that full-body stimuli elicit a simulation process that is closer to the instantaneous veridical configuration of the observed movements while impoverished displays (both point-light and single-dot) elicit a prediction that is further forward in time. This simulation process seems to be independent from the point of view under which the actions are observed.

Motion perception in touch: resolving contradictory findings by varying probabilities of different trial types.

Representational momentum describes the typical overestimation of the final location of a moving stimulus in the direction of stimulus motion. While systematically observed in different sensory modalities, especially vision and audition, in touch, empirical findings indicate a mixed pattern of results, with some published studies suggesting the existence of the phenomenon, while others do not. In the present study, one possible moderating variable, the relative probabilities of different trial types, was explored in an attempt to resolve the seemingly contradictory findings in the literature. In some studies, only consistently moving target stimuli were presented and no representational momentum was observed, while other studies have included inconsistently moving target stimuli in the same experimental block, and observed representational momentum. Therefore, the present study was designed to systematically compare the localization of consistent target motion stimuli across two experimental blocks, for which either only consistent motion trials were presented, or else mixed with inconsistent target motion trials. The results indicate a strong influence of variations in the probability of different trial types on the occurrence of representational momentum. That is, representational momentum only occurred when both trial types (inconsistent and consistent target motion) were presented within one experimental block. The results are discussed in light of recent theoretical advancements in the literature, namely the speed prior account of motion perception.

Are attentional momentum and representational momentum related?

ABSTRACT In attentional momentum, detection of a target further ahead in the direction of an ongoing attention shift is faster than detection of a target an equal distance in an orthogonal direction. In representational momentum, memory for the location of a previously viewed target is displaced in the direction of target motion. Hubbard [Hubbard, T. L. (2014). Forms of momentum across space: Representational, operational, and attentional. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21(6), 1371–1403; Hubbard, T. L. (2015). The varieties of momentum-like experience. Psychological Bulletin, 141(6), 1081–1119] hypothesized that attentional momentum and representational momentum might be related or reflect the same mechanism or similar mechanisms. Two experiments collected measures of attentional momentum and representational momentum. In Experiment 1, attentional momentum based on differences between detecting targets opposite or orthogonal to a cued location was not correlated with representational momentum based on M displacement for the final location of a target. In Experiment 2, attentional momentum based on facilitation in detecting a gap on a probe presented in front of the final target location was not correlated with representational momentum based on a weighted mean of the probabilities of a same response in probe judgments of the final target location. Implications of the findings for the relationship of attentional momentum and representational momentum, and for theories of momentum-like effects in general, are considered.

Experimental Verification of the Relationship Formation Model in the Process of Visual Perception

The transcendental psychology approach to the study of perception (A.I. Mirakyan) assumes that in the perception there are so-called structurally-generative processes. Their study is based on an axiomatic methodology, which includes general natural principles for the formation of relationships that provide conditions and opportunities for creating forms in visual perception. The conducted experiment was devoted to the experimental verification of a theoretical model presenting a hierarchy of center-symmetrical and temporary relationships. Experiments included perception of short-term displayed contour symmetric objects that vary in size at a fairly high speed. The method was based on the detection of the place of the Fröhlich effect (onset or offset) for stimuli increasing and decreasing in size. The studied model indicated the possibility of the appearance of subjects of the reversed Fröhlich effect (it is offset as representational momentum but reversed in time) for stimuli decreasing in size at high speeds. The experiments showed that for a speed of 15 deg/s, the percentage of such subjects was 8%, and for a speed of 30 deg/s—22%, while for a speed of 60 deg/s this percentage exceeds 65%. For the last speed, there were a significant number of tests with the reversed Fröhlich effect, which was predicted by the model. Thus, we see possibility to verify the proposed theoretical model, although the conclusions made require further theoretical and experimental verification. Transcendental psychology approach provides alternative explanations for phenomena, which are determined by the principles of Gestalt psychology.

Agency and social affordance shape visual perception

Research on the sense of agency has shown that being the author of an action changes the way we estimate the timing and the intensity of the action-effect. Yet, there is a dearth of attempts to assess the influence of agency on perception per se. The present study used the Representational Momentum paradigm to measure participants' visual anticipation of movement while manipulating their agency. In line with previous literature emphasizing the impact of social factors on visual anticipation and on the sense of agency, we additionally investigated the modulating power of social affordances on the relationship between agency and visual anticipation. We conducted two experiments where participants viewed a virtual agent directing a handshake gesture toward a second virtual agent. In a first experiment, we addressed the role of agency on visual anticipation by comparing a condition in which participants triggered the virtual agent's gesture with a condition where the computer triggered the gesture. Results showed greater forward movement anticipation when participants triggered the gesture. The second experiment investigated how altering social interaction parameters (interindividual distance and body posture) modulated the relationship between agency and visual anticipation. The outcome contrasted with the first experiment, with participants anticipating a backward movement of the hand when the computer triggered the gesture and displaying a null anticipation when participants triggered the gesture. Those two experiments highlighted how active involvement and environmental affordance interact to shape perception and allowed us to propose an updated model of agency processing.

Phasic alertness boosts representational momentum.

The final location of a moving object is always misremembered in the direction of the object's motion; this occurrence is called representational momentum. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of phasic alertness on representational momentum by presenting a visual or auditory warning cue. In experiment 1, the mouse pointer paradigm was used, and the results showed that external warning cues increased forward displacement. Experiment 2 indicated that the effects of phasic alertness and speed of motion on representational momentum were independent. In experiment 3, the probe paradigm was used, and the results showed that external warning cues increased forward displacement as well as participants' sensitivity to the difference between the target and probe positions. These findings prove that phasic alertness boosts rather than reduces representational momentum. We propose that phasic alertness might influence representational momentum by modulating the process of executive control in the retention interval.

Developmental Changes in the Magnitude of Representational Momentum Among Nursery School Children: A Longitudinal Study.

Representational momentum (RM) is a well-known phenomenon that occurs when a moving object vanishes suddenly and the memory of its final or vanishing position is displaced forward in the direction of its motion. Many studies have shown evidence of various perceptual and cognitive characteristics of RM in various daily aspects, sports, development, and aging. Here we examined the longitudinal developmental changes in the displacement magnitudes of RM among younger (5-year-old) and older (6-year-old) nursery school children for pointing and judging tasks. In our experiments, the children were asked to point at by their finger (pointing task) and judge the spatial location (judging task) of the vanishing point of a moving stimulus. Our results showed that the mean magnitudes of RM significantly decreased from 5- to 6-year-old children for the pointing and judging tasks, although the mean magnitude of RM was significantly greater in the 5-year-old children for the pointing task but not for the judging task. We further examined the developmental changes in RM for a wide range of ages based on data from the present study (5-year-old children) and our previous study (7- and 11-year-old children and 22-year-old adults). This ad hoc examination showed that the magnitude of RM was significantly greater in 5-year-old children than in adults for the pointing and judging tasks. Our findings suggest that the magnitude of RM was significantly greater in young children than in adults and significantly decreased in young children through adults for the pointing and judging tasks.