Document Detail


Deciding what to see: the role of intention and attention in the perception of apparent motion.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18279907     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Apparent motion is an illusory perception of movement that can be induced by alternating presentations of static objects. Already in Wertheimer's early investigation of the phenomenon [Wertheimer, M. (1912). Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung. Zeitschrift fur Psychologie, 61, 161-265], he mentions that voluntary attention can influence the way in which an ambiguous apparent motion display is perceived. But until now, few studies have investigated how strong the modulation of apparent motion through attention can be under different stimulus and task conditions. We used bistable motion quartets of two different sizes, where the perception of vertical and horizontal motion is equally likely. Eleven observers participated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to either (a) hold the current movement direction as long as possible, (b) passively view the stimulus, or (c) switch the movement directions as quickly as possible. With the respective instructions, observers could almost double phase durations in (a) and more than halve durations in (c) relative to the passive condition. This modulation effect was stronger for the large quartets. In Experiment 2, observers' attention was diverted from the stimulus by a detection task at fixation while they still had to report their conscious perception. This manipulation prolonged dominance durations for up to 100%. The experiments reveal a high susceptibility of ambiguous apparent motion to attentional modulation. We discuss how feature- and space-based attention mechanisms might contribute to those effects.
Authors:
Axel Kohler; Leila Haddad; Wolf Singer; Lars Muckli
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2008-02-14
Journal Detail:
Title:  Vision research     Volume:  48     ISSN:  0042-6989     ISO Abbreviation:  Vision Res.     Publication Date:  2008 Mar 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-03-31     Completed Date:  2008-06-26     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0417402     Medline TA:  Vision Res     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1096-106     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. akohler@mpih-frankfurt.mpg.de
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Attention / physiology*
Eye Movements / physiology
Fixation, Ocular / physiology
Humans
Motion Perception / physiology*
Optical Illusions / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods
Psychomotor Performance
Psychophysics
Sensory Thresholds / physiology

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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